Once Again
by ratpigeon
Summary: In the 32nd year of Meiji, the second generation of the Kenshingumi are nearing adulthood. Myojin Shinya and Himura Kenji clash over the Sakabato, while Shinko, Shinya's twin sister, seeks the road to freedom from the confines of society. Don't own RK.
1. Chapter 1

This is based on the comments of Nobuhiro Watsuki at the end of the manga. I thought that was such an interesting idea, I decided to write about it. Except I gave Shinya a twin sister because it really bugged me that all of the good fighters were male (Yahiko, age ten, is better than Kaoru age sixteen, after training for only six months? And Kamatari was a guy too, despite looking extraordinarily girly. Misao doesn't do much, (except obsess about Aoshi.) Anyway, this is set in the 32nd year of Meiji – if it was still called Meiji then – as Kenshin nears his 50th…creepy thought, huh?

Anyway, I own nothing, I won't even put a claim to Shinko, because she will probably end up like some sort of female Yahiko. This applies to all following chapters.

Okay, nearly a year to the day after it was last updated, I'm rewriting it, putting some of the chapters together so that they're longer, and adding a bit in the middle and making the entire story longer(This first chapter is nearly the same though). Also, I'll be putting a rein on the Japanese that I use, and instead of putting translations in the text, I've put a glossary here.

_Chichi _– 'Father' (This is the familiar version that replaces _Otou-san _and usually refers to one's own parent.)  
_Haha_ – 'Mother (Same form as _Chichi – _often replaces _Okaa-san_)  
_Imoto – _Little sister  
_Nii/Nee – _Big brother/sister  
_Gochisosama – _this is always said at the end of a meal in thanks for the food  
_Itadakimas – _Like _Gochisosama _except for the start of a meal  
_Hayaku – _hurry up (Lit. a form of _hayai _meaning early)  
_(Chotto) Matte – _wait  
_Nani – _What  
_Ohayo (gozaimas) – _Good morning.  
_Konichiwa – _everyone knows this –'hello'  
_Konbanwa – _good evening  
_Oyasumi Narai – _good night  
_Dozo Yoroshiku – _pleased to meet you  
_Ja Matte – _see you later (also _Ja Ne, _or simply _Ja, _or even _Matte Ne)_  
_Sumimasen – _excuse me  
_(Domo) Arigato (Gozaimas) – _thank you (very much)  
_Doitashimashte – _your welcome  
_Baka – _idiot  
_Busu – _Hag  
_Ne – _Right?  
_Hai/Iie – _yes/no

Then there are also standard suffixes (in ascending order of respect/familiarity) _–chan, -kun, -san, -dono, -sensei (_for teachers/doctors_), -sama... _

Now, with this over, let us begin...

Chapter One

Myojin Shinko watched the two young men before her, shinai resting at their sides, hands hovering just over the hilt as they waited for her signal. They were about equal in size, since the dark-haired fighter to her left had grown (and eaten) amazingly in the last few months, but the red-haired man on the left had four more years of experience, and was commonly hailed as a genius. Shinko blinked as he met her eyes with his own, dark blue ones, wondering why she hadn't called the start yet. Shinya, her twin brother, was shifting impatiently on the balls of his feet.

"_Hayaku, Imoto-chan_." He snapped, impatient, but still watching his opponent carefully "I'm about to drop dead of old age."

"Don't call _me_ little sister, I'm exactly the same age as you are!"

"But you smaller than me, aren't you, _Imoto-chan_?" Shinko glared at her brother, her fingers twitching towards her own shinai, laid carefully on the ground beside her, wrapped in the cherry blossom-patterned bag that her mother had insisted was more appropriate for a fifteen year old girl.

"Please begin the match, Shinko-san." Himura Kenji's voice was soft and polite, but also slightly cold, completely different to the warm kindness in his father's voice. Shrugging, Shinko poked her tongue out at her brother and raised her hand, watching the two fighters intently.

"Myojin Shinya and Himura Kenji, begin!"

If she hadn't been watching for it, Shinko probably would have missed the first flurry of movement as the two boys drew their swords and launched themselves towards each other. As such, she only just saw each attack before it was countered, faster than the mind could react, as they both relied on the fighter's instinct for sensing attacks…no, it was more than that, it was the sense of an adept of Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu. Shinko narrowed her brown eyes in concentration, memorising each move as it was made, so that she could analyse, and use, it later. Over the past year, this was the form that her training had taken, even Shinya wouldn't spar with her anymore, since it 'wasn't right to beat up girls'.

"Point, Kenji!" Shinko called, raising her hand, just as Kenji's blade connected with Shinya's side. Her dumb brother had intentionally created a fractional opening, to lure Kenji in, but pre-empted his strategy by attacking before his opponent took the bait. Kenji had probably known that, and delayed his strike at that weak spot for just an instant, until Shinya was committed in his attack.

""What?! No way! That was –" Shinko waited patiently for Shinya to finish fuming before signalling for them to continue. Kenji always got the first hit.

*****

Five points later, two more of which were against Shinya, Kaoru decided it was time for dinner. Her cooking had improved from the horror-stories that Yahiko and Uncle Sano related, but it still wasn't brilliant. Her timing, however, was immaculate. She interrupted almost every bout at exactly the point when the scores were equal. It annoyed Shinya no end, and even irritated Kenji occasionally, as well as being the point of several heated arguments between master and first instructor of the Kamiya Kasshin-ryu dojo.

"But – "

"No excuses, are you staying for dinner, Shinya, Shinko? Good. You boys, get changed, I don't want the tatami mats smelling of sweat. Shinko, help me serve." Without another word, the imposing, blue-eyed woman swept out of the dojo training hall. Sighing, Shiko followed, slinging her shinai over her shoulder.

Kenshin was in the kitchen as well, chopping vegetables. It was the closest he ever got to sword fighting these days, his speed and strength had deteriorated so much that by this time, they were no better than the average persons, despite the fact that only his world-weary purple eyes looked older than his mid thirties (Once again, Kenshin slices off the years.). Shinko began to scoop the cut vegetables into a bowl, wondering what it must be like to lose so much, after dedicating so much time and effort to it. It made her feel slightly selfish, being so resentful about how little time she was allowed to spend with her own kenjutsu. Not even Misao-chan, or Kaoru-san would back her up, now that they were happily married with kids.

"Sano-san and Megumi-dono are coming for dinner as well…did we make enough, Kaoru-dono?" Kenshin asked quietly, looking over at his wife. He still called her Dono in public, despite having been married to her for twenty years.

"_NANI_?!?!? Why didn't you tell me sooner?! And Shinya's still eating like Yahiko…"

"Watch it, busu. You say it like it's a bad thing. It just means he's growing. Everyone eats a lot when they're teenagers. I bet Kenji, and even Kenshin did it." Shinko looked up and smiled at her father, who was standing in the doorway with a parcel labelled 'Akabeko' and his eternal companion, a battered old shinai.

"What are _you_ doing here?" snapped Kaoru "and chop faster, Kenshin. We need more vegetables. How much tofu do we have?"

"I came because Kenshin said Sano and Megumi would be here."

"You told Yahiko and not me?! How could you be so inconsiderate you dirty, no-good _rurouni_!"

"_Gomenasai,_ Kaoru-dono, this one forgot."

"Ahhh!!!"

"Tsubame-chan sent me with food." Shinko smiled at the way Yahiko had skilfully interrupted Kaoru's rant with practised ease. "She's watching the akabeko tonight, so she won't be coming, but she thought that Kenshin might not have told you, so she gave me food-aid."

"I love that girl!" Kaoru snatched the parcel off Yahiko, examining its contents quickly. "Right, now we can make a decent meal."

"Misao rubbed off on you," muttered Yahiko, resting his left hand comfortably on his shinai, in an unthinking stance that nearly matched that of Kenji and Shinya this afternoon.

"What was that?"

"Nothing…"

*****


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

"Hey Everyone!" Sano's voice was loud as he swung open the door to the dojo, a battered white bag in one hand and an irate vixen thrashing about on his other shoulder.

"Put me down you stupid birdhead! I can walk, you know." Megumi yelled, pounding on Sano's back with her medicine box, her feet kicking, ineffectually, at his stomach.

"Cheer up, I was carrying you because you complained so much, it was very gentlemanly of me."

"Yeah, right."

"The least you could do is say thank you, you get really heavy after a couple of miles."

"Shut up!! And put me down _right now_! Your just as bad as that old man in Shinshu."

"Higashidani Kamishimoemon (a/n what a name! 0.0) is my father, thank you very much, don't slander him," said Sano, glaring at Megumi as he let her slide to the ground.

"Then I see where you got your stupidity." Megumi snapped, brushing off her clothes and straightening up. It was at this point that she realised that everyone in the room was staring at her and Sanosuke, stunned into silence.

"…Hello Ken-san, Kaoru, how have you been?"

"…we've been well…" said Kaoru slowly, Kenshin nodding his bright red head beside her, purple eyes wide.

"Good, Kenshin, I want to check how you're doing –"

"– _After_ dinner." Sano amended, sitting down next to Kenshin and Yahiko. "Look what I brought."

"SAKE!" Yahiko whooped in delight, snatching the bottle from Sano and popping off the cork.

"Hey! What about Kenshin?"

"No thank you, I don't like sake." Kenshin said quietly, his eyes sad and distant.

"Can I have some dad?" Asked Shinya hopefully, holding out a glass.

"If you don't tell Tsubame-chan... Kenji?"

"No."

Yahiko shrugged, unperturbed, and began measuring out the sake.

"Can I have some too?" Asked Shinko, not really thinking she would get any.

"What?" Yahiko looked at her, bottle raised, and blinked. "You…want sake?"

"I'm the same age as Shinya, why can't I have sake too."

"Tsubame will –"

"I won't tell."

"But –" Yahiko looked around the table for support. Kaouru and Megumi looked surprised, but didn't object, Kenji and Kenshin both didn't seem to care, and Shinya just looked disbelieving.

"Let her have a drink," said Sano, handing Shinko a glass. "Everyone can enjoy sake, and if she's anything like you, which she is, she'll probably duel you for the right if you don't let her. She may even win, if she kept up her training."

"Thanks uncle Sano," Shinko said, accepting her glass with a gracious smile, and a quick smirk at Shinya. Returning her smirk with a glare, Shinya and the others settled down to dinner.

*****

"_Gochisosama_," Said Shinko quickly, gathering her bowls together and standing up. "May I be excused, Kaoru-san?"

"Okay, Shinko-chan, but you three kids are all helping me with the dishes later."

"_Wakarimashta.._." Shinko left the dining room, dumping her dishes in the kitchen sink, and grabbing her shinai. Moving quickly and quietly, Shinko went to the dojo's training hall, loosening the knot on her obi. Unwrapping the long, heavy band of silk from her waist, Shinko removed the delicate summer kimono as well, dumping them in a pile by one of the doors, along with the flowery bag for her shinai. She moved to the centre of the hall, standing in the yukata she had smuggled from Shinya's closet, and managed to fit on under her kimono. The sharp creases in the yukata were a testament to how difficult that had been, Kimono weren't made to wear over something (or under something, if it came to that), Shinko mused as she dragged her short black hair up into a ponytail.

Shinya always teased her about her hair, saying it was always as spiky and ruffled as a boy, he didn't realise that Shinko took it as a compliment, smiling, Shinko touched the back of her head, where the ponytail stuck straight out in ragged black spikes. Taking a deep breath, Shinko closed her eyes, and imagined that it had been her fighting Kenji this afternoon. The slender red-head sprang to life in her mind's eye, hand resting by the hilt of his shinai. Shinko adopted the same position, knowing where to place her hands, even with her eyes shut. She heard her own voice say quietly,

"Begin." She saw Kenji rush towards her, his feet fast and light as he drew out his sword. He didn't add the left-footed step of Amekakeru no hirameki, but was more than fast enough any way. Shinko let him come, before pivoting to the side and using the centrifugal force of her turn to snap the blade forwards, aiming the attack on his back as he passed her. Fast as lightning, Kenji countered, his blade coming up to block hers as he turned. He was stronger than her, and twisted his sword, attacking down her own blade, his eyes expressionless. Shinko arched backwards, and the blade whistled past her chest, before she twisted sideways, aiming for Kenji's left side, and was once again blocked. The fight continued behind Shinko's eyelids, but it was only her body slipping through the moves of the duel, only her feet that brushed against the wooden floor, and only her breath that moved the quiet air.

Then her Shinai collided with another sword. Shinko's eyes flew open, and for a moment she was confused as the scene didn't change. Kenji was standing in front of her, sword in hand, in exactly the block that she had known he would use.

"What are you doing, Shinko-san?" He asked quietly, disengaging the two shinai.

"I'm training." Shinko said, uncomfortable and embarrassed that she hadn't heard Kenji come into the room, and that he'd seen her 'training'. It was worse than talking to yourself.

"By yourself?" Shinko shrugged, trying to read Kenji's eyes, the same blue as his mother's, but far deeper and more shadowed.

"No-one else will train with me, not properly. _Chichi_ says that I'm probably the best girl in Japan, and thinks that should be enough. He wants me to be happy, and thinks I need a husband to achieve that, but he's wrong. I know that most guys only fall in love with feminine girls and that I'll probably never meet someone like Kenshin, who would love a swordswoman, but…" Shinko trailed off, blushing as she realised that she had said much more than she had ever meant to. Kenji was staring intently at her. Without saying a word, he took one of Shinko's hands of the Shinai, tracing the calluses on her hand with his own calloused thumb. After a few seconds he looked up at her again.

"Okaasan never had calluses like these." He said quietly, letting go of her hand and gripping his shinai again. Confused, Shinko let the hand fall to her side. She never knew what Kenji was thinking, or what he expected her to do, but it seemed he always was waiting for her to do, or say, something…

"Please begin the match, Shinko-san." Shinko's eyes widened as Kenji said those five words in his quiet, distant voice. Dropping her hand to her side in the battojutsu stance Yahiko had learned by watching Kenshin, and Kenji had learned by listening to Kenshin, and Kenshin had learned by instruction and practise from his master, and later perfected in the bloody days of the Bakumatsu, so long ago. When she was ready, she looked up, ready to start again, and nodded slightly to Kenji. He attacked, just as fast as this afternoon, just as fast as in her mind's eye, and their swords clashed. The point of his shinai hit the hilt of hers before she could step to the side and bring her blade up, he'd been expecting it. Feeling the hilt bang into her left hand, Shinko jumped back, bringing her sword up in front of her. A faint smile touched her face as she and Kenji faced off, this was a real fight, no holds barred. It was the fights like these that tested your skills to the limits, and let you get stronger.

Kenji's bare foot scuffed against the floor as he sprinted forward, Shinko raised her sword to meet him, also charging into attack. The two weapons met with a splintering crack, Shinko's crossing over Kenji's. Usually having her blade on top would give her an advantage, but Kenji was stronger than her, so neither blade moved, seeming to hang suspended, trembling slightly as the full force of the two young fighters' will and strength met. A heartbeat passed and the two broke apart, only to come clashing together again. The flurry of blows passed and began again, measured in heartbeats and less, sometimes the impact was of wood on flesh, more often the cracking thud of the two shinai coming together with such force and momentum. Nothing stopped the battle, except for the momentary pause between exchanges, when the two combatants, panting now as sweat poured off their bodies, stepped back to reassess, and look for a new opportunity.

Shinko jumped back, once again, blinking to clear the sweat from her eyes. Her right side ached from one of Kenji's bruising hits, and blood trickled from just below her left collarbone, where the Shinai had hit her bare skin. Kenji had a wide purple bruise beginning to form across his ribcage. Clenching her teeth, Shinko tightened her grip, willing the pain away. Injuries from a shinai were nothing. Once again, they charged at each other, shadows fleeting through the dojo's half darkness. This time, when they met, the splintering crash was different, and Shinko found herself falling forwards as the resistance she had expected vanished.

"_Nani_?" Shinko's hands came up in front of her to brace for the impact against the ground, her shinai falling to the ground, but instead her fall was stopped by Kenji's chest. His right hand was holding a shinai, snapped cleanly in half. Shinko stared at it in surprise for a moment, before realising that she was in a rather compromising position, with her hands and face pressed flat against Kenji's chest, and she stepped back quickly, muttering an apology.

"_Sumimasen_, Kenji-san…"

"…I must have worn it out more than I thought…no matter; it's easy to break a Shinai." Kenji Smiled at Shinko and his blue eyes cleared for an instant. "You're very good, Shinko-san, and not as impatient as your brother. But," Kenji's voice dropped and his eyes narrowed again. "The _sakabato_ is my inheritance, and if you or Shinya-san tries to claim it, I _will_ stop you." Shinko nodded, feeling unbalanced from trying to react to Kenji's mercurial mood.

"We should probably help Kaoru with the dishes…"

Kenji nodded, his face assuming its normal, blank expression.

"You get changed first, I'll tell her you're coming." Shinko winced as Kenji left the training hall, imagining Yahiko and Kaoru's reactions when Kenji came in, sweating and dishevelled to say that, Shinko had not disappeared to be alone for some reason but was on her way, after Kenji.... Kenji would probably even say that she was getting changed. With that thought in her mind, Shinko dressed, probably breaking world records for putting on a kimono, and ran out of the hall, tying her obi as she stuffed the sweaty yukata and battered shinai into her bag.

"Kenji, wait!" she said, hiking up the bottom of the kimono as far as it could go (which was about mid-calf) and running to catch up with him, the loose ends of her obi flapping.

Kenji turned, raising his eyebrows as he saw Shinko, crooked Kimono, spiky ponytail, flapping obi and all.

"Your obi is crooked."

"I know, help me tie it while I get this mess straightened out." Said Shinko, waspishly, pulling her hair down, and beginning to tug the kimono into the proper shape. Kenji was good at tying obi, he had lots of experience, due to Shinko herself, who, when she had been little, had pulled off any kimono her mother had forced her to wear, and run, giggling and wearing only her underclothes, to play with Kenji and her brother, leaving the kimono, and it's obi, in a dirty pile. Kenji had taken it upon himself to ensure that Shinko never went home in her underwear though, so he'd ended up getting her dressed again each evening, when it was time for the twins to go home. That was, he'd helped her with her kimono until, just after he turned thirteen, six years ago, he'd decided it was inappropriate.

It was also soon after that that he became completely obsessed with kenjutsu, and began to learn Hiten Mitsrugi-ryu, simply from listening to Kenshin's stories. It was amazing that he had managed to learn, only from a description, but he had. Even Shinya and Shinko had watched Yahiko, when he occasionally practised the moves he had managed to learn by watching Kenshin. But from there, all three had managed to learn the deadly kenjutsu.

"There." Shinko felt Kenji's hands lightly path the elaborate bow in her obi. "You're presentable, now let's go, Shinko-san."

"Okay," Shinko nodded and grinned at Kenji, as they walked back towards the dining room and kitchen to help Kaoru with the dishes.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Shinko sighed as her mother fiddled with her hair. It had been three days since her duel with Kenji, and she hadn't been allowed to see him once since then. Yahiko had been at a loss for words when they showed up together, Kenji still sweaty, and – as Kaoru had so kindly pointed out – Shinko's obi tied differently, but Tsubame, when she heard about it, had been irate. Especially since Shinya had come home drunk and, in righteous defence of his own, tenuous position, told Tsubame that "Shinko had some too."

"I still can't believe you would do that, Shinko." Clucked Tsubame disapprovingly, as she tried to do something with Shinko's hair other than short and spiky. "If you're interested in Kenji, then fine, he's a handsome young man, and I can understand that you would be attracted to him, and of course, you probably weren't thinking clearly, but still, it's completely inappropriate to – "

"It's not what you think! Kenji and I didn't _do_ anything like that!" said Shinko, blushing hotly at her mother's prattling. "And it was only one glass of sake."

"One glass too many." Muttered Tsubame darkly, before continuing, "Well, then, what _were_ you doing?"

"A duel with shinai. Kenji was helping me practise my Kenjutsu. I had a yukata on underneath my kimono, to train in, and when I put my kimono back on I had to retie the obi."

"You were practising with your shinai? Shinko, you don't _need_ to be able to fight, Yahiko and Shinya are more than capable, even Kaoru-san doesn't train much anymore."

"I _want_ to be able to fight! If you don't believe me then you can find the yukata I wore in my shinai-bag." Shinko stood up, Tsubame's comb lodging in her tangled hair. "I'm just as good as Shinya, and I'm sick of no-one ever thinking that a girl can fight. I don't _want_ to be protected! I don't _need_ someone like Kenshin, or _chichi_, or Uncle Sano to protect me!" blinking back furious tears, Shinko stormed out of the room, the lacquered comb still dangling from her hair.

A minute later, Shinko found Shinya's room in a state of disarray. Dirty clothes were scattered across the floor, as well as training manuals and the bags of sand that he tied to his wrists and ankles to increase his strength. By the far wall was a rack with three shinai, sitting on a desk filled with coloured rocks, Shinya's secret obsession. Wrinkling her nose, Shinko picked her way across the room to the closet, where she pulled out two yukata. Quickly stuffing them into her shinai-bag, in place of the rank, sweaty yukata she had borrowed three days ago, Shinko began to make her way back towards the door. She stopped when she passed the table though, and after a moment's thought, she took the least battered shinai off the bottom of the rack – her own was nearly broken after the duel with Kenji. Sliding it in her obi, Shinko left her brother's room. She froze as she heard Tsubame's voice in her room, her mother was looking for her, a tearful sorry on her lips. Gritting her teeth, Shinko tugged the comb out of her hair, and placed it on the ground with the brief note she had scrawled, minutes before.

_I'm going travelling,_

_Shinko._

Wiping at her face, Shinko turned and quickly ran out of the house, her bare feet making no sound against the floor.

*****

"Pay attention Kenji-san."

Kenji looked up from under his red fringe as the quiet voice jerked him from his musings. Higashidani Ota was standing across from him, watching him reproachfully from above their crossed shinai. Even at twenty-seven, it was easy to see why Sano called him 'applecheeks', a nickname that had stuck in the dojo, when he'd come to join it, seventeen years ago. Kenji shrugged, appalled at himself for being so distracted. He couldn't let his guard down for an instant if he wanted to truly master himself and his sword. He needed to defeat Shinya, once and for all, and win the Sakabato off Yahiko. With that in hand, he could go about proving that _he_ was the best, not his weak-willed father. Okaasan and the others always praised Kenshin's vow as a demonstration of the highest form of self-control and determination, but Kenji knew it for what it was, the weakness and lies of a foolish old man, no longer brave enough to kill for his beliefs. And now, even Shinko was becoming an obstacle to that goal. Kenji had thought that she'd been tamed; content to leave the kenjutsu to her brother…he'd been wrong. Shinko had trained just as hard as Shinya, but in secret, so as not to upset her mother. She was determined too, and the frustration she had always experienced at the tedium of femininity, had now been tempered into a hard resentment. A match for his own. Kenji smiled slightly, at the thought of facing Shinko again, as he touched the purple bruise across his ribs. With a sakabato, she would have broken them, with a real blade, he would have been sliced in two.

"Shinya gave you some nasty hits last time, didn't he?" asked Ota, smiling, thinking he understood. _Baka._ It was too obvious that he had spent so many years of his life under the protection of his sister. He was too kind to ever truly be a swordsman. Even so, Kenji nodded politely.

"Yes, it was quite a fierce fight." It was probably fortunate that Shinya hadn't returned to the dojo since _that night. _He would know immediately that the bruise was not from any attack that he had landed, and he would say it too, as a fool who didn't know when to keep his mouth shut.

"SHINKO!" Kenji shut his eyes as Shinya's voice bellowed around the room. _speak of the devil…_ Shinya strode into the room, his black hair a dishevelled mess around his tanned face and chestnut brown eyes. He spotted Kenji immediately, and made a beeline for him. "Hey, Kenji-kun, have you seen Shinko? _Haha_ said she'd run out, and she pinched one of my shinai, so I thought she'd be here."

"I haven't seen Shinko-san in several days. She hasn't come into this dojo since Sanosuke-san came over, a few nights ago."

"Did she dump you?" Shinya asked, smirking. "She was too good for you anyway. Shinko deserves a nice, _normal_ guy who'll take proper care of her."

"No, she _needs _someone who understands her, and is willing to let her fight. If Tsubame-san got Shinko-san angry enough, then you might have to look beyond Tokyo to find her."

"No way," Shinya said, tapping his shinai, "she'll be back by dinner. I'm just looking so that _haha_ won't worry. I'd much prefer to finish our duel. I've found somewhere we can fight uninterrupted; the big tree by the river."

"I have other things to do." Said Kenji, turning away from Yahiko's son. The bruise across his ribs was still irritating him, slightly, and it was always more entertaining to make Shinya stew for a few days... He wondered if Shinko truly _had_ left Tokyo, and if so, where she was going. He felt a slight pang of regret; it would have been interesting to fight her again…

Almost unbidden, the image rose to his mind; Shinko, running towards him, kimono flapping, and obi untied, her cheeks red from exertion, as she ran towards him, and that irrepressible energy she and Shinya had inherited from their father, shining from her face. This time the faint smile that touched his blue eyes was one of genuine affection, even a little warmth…wherever she was, he wished her luck.

"Well fine then, if you're too _scared, _I guess I can give you a while to prepare. I'll meet you there at noon on Saturday. That'll give you plenty of time..."

"Okay, fine. Now go away, you're in the way." Kenji turned back to Ota, raising his shinai again

*****

Myojin Shinko looked up at the clear blue sky, and smiled. Dressed in Shinya's yukata, with shinai tied across her back, she faced the world beyond Tokyo with nothing other than sword, clothes, and the small amount of money she got from selling the hated obi. _Chichi_ would understand, Kenshin-san, and Uncle Sano definitely would, and _haha_ would accept it. Shinko shrugged, stretching out her neck, and rubbing the back of her head. For now, she was free, she could wander where she wanted, living by the creed of Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu, and Kamiya Kasshin. Once again, there was a _rurouni_ wandering Japan.

*****


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter four

The small village was quiet. Shinko, a week out of Tokyo and somewhat worse for wear, her stomach quietly complaining that half a dozen _onigiri_ was not enough food for two days, looked around in surprise. At her last stop, a small, lakeside town that was bustling with fishermen and traders, everyone had been busy and cheerful. This village however, was quiet, and the few people out all suspiciously avoided the two-storey inn standing above the small square.

Shaking off the uneasy feeling, Shinko cautiously entered the town, hand resting on the hilt of her shinai. It suddenly felt like a very insubstantial weapon. The inn was in the centre of the town; it was a medium-sized two-storey building that looked out over the small houses around it. The sliding doors were shut though, and it didn't look like a very welcoming place. Shinko paused, wondering what to do, but she was duty-bound to help and protect those who could not do it for themselves, and if this town was in trouble, then she would most likely find it in the inn. Bearing this thought in mind, Shinko boldly slid the door open. _The only path lies forward_. She thought, mentally quoting her father's motto. She was about to kick off her sandals and enter the inn, when someone came flying out of it. Shinko grunted as her breath whooshed out of her lungs and she was knocked to the ground. It was a young man, his squinted eyes blinking rapidly as he stood up and straightened his clothes,

"_Gomenasai_ Hiruma-sama. _Gomenasai_." He said, bowing repeatedly at the open screen.

"Shut the door!" A deep voice bellowed from inside the inn.

"_Hai hai, sumimasen_…" Shinko sat up, blinking in surprise as the timid young man scampered to the door. When it was closed, he turned around, and almost fell over in surprise when he saw Shinko sitting on the ground, looking slightly dazed.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I knock you over? Please forgive me, I didn't see you there, uh…" he trailed off, not sure what to call her.

"Myojin, Myojin Shinko."

"Shin- oh my! _Gomen, gomen_, Myojin-san, I –" the man blushed as he realised that the dusty figure dressed in a travel-stained yukata was actually a girl.

"What's going on here?" asked Shinko, frowning as she stood up. There was definitely something wrong in this town.

"Hiruma-sama…he is a huge man, he says he came up against _Hitokiri Battosai_, and survived…a week ago, he came to this town, and claimed the inn, he said he was doing it as a tribute to his brother, and that he wouldn't stand down unless _Battosai_ or Zanza could defeat him, so that he could lay honour at his big brother's grave." The man twisted the hem of his shirt, looking down. Shinko was quite impressed that he'd managed to say so much in one sentence.

"Hiruma…he knows '_battosai'_, and 'Zanza'? Oh, wait, Fatso-beard and ugly Shorty? They tried to take over the Kamiya dojo when Kenshin-san and Kaoru-san met! …Aren't they ancient by now?" Shinko stopped and looked at the man, realising she didn't know his name yet.

"Hiruma-sama is old, yes, but he is not ancient…and he is still very strong."

"And he took over the inn…what's your name, by the way?"

"Oh, uh, it's Taheki Hiro, my Father and I ran the inn…"

"…I don't think it's morally upstanding to beat up an old man, is it? But he _is_ a bad guy…but when Kenshin-san and uncle Sano beat them up it was twenty years ago…maybe I can scare them off…" Shinko frowned. To fight or not to fight…

"Tell me more, Hiro-kun."

"Would you like to eat with me and my family first? You look tired."

"That is very kind of you, Hiro-kun, now, tell me how a fat old man can take over your inn.

*****

Shinko put down her bowl, murmuring 'Gochisosama' quickly, before looking up at Hiro and his father.

"So, Ugly Shorty died of old age, and now Fatso-beard wants to honour his memory by succeeding in crime. What an idiot." Shinko stood up and grabbed her shinai. "Thankyou for letting me eat here, but I have business to attend to."

"But Myojin-san, it's nightime, stay here tonight, you can sleep in _Imoto_'s room…"

"Don't be ridiculous, I'm staying in the inn."

"But Hiruma-sama's…"

"_Ja matte._" Shinko left the house, letting the smile spread across her face. She had a chance to help someone! And one of Kenshin-san and Uncle Sano's old…maybe not quite enemies, but still, she was going to become a proper _rurouni_, and protect the happiness of everyone she could see. Just like Kenshin-san, Uncle Sano and _Chichi_.

Shinko banged on the door with her shinai, schooling her expression and taking a deep breath to calm down. She had lost so many bouts against Kenji and Ota when she was younger because she got excited and distracted, Shinya had been just as bad, but whatever happened in the inn this evening, she was going to win the inn back for the Tahekis.

"Oi! Fatso-beard, open up!" Shinko banged on the door again, before sliding it open, and entering. She saw the younger Hiruma brother, (Gohei?) kneeling at a low table with an _obento_ meal. His dark brown hair was heavily streaked with grey, and his eyes were sad as he prodded at the food.

"nii-san always used to cook for us…" he said sadly, not looking up, "His meals were so much better than an _obento_ from that stupid Taheki…"

"Hiruma…Fatso-beard. I am Myojin Shinko, and I have come to fight you for the possession of the inn that you have taken from the Taheki family!" Shinko declared, raising her shinai. The huge man looked up at her indignantly.

"You can't do that! A tiny girl like you could never beat me! I fought – " Hiruma's sentence was cut off as Shinko knocked him over the head with her shinai.

"Don't call me tiny, _Fatso_, my parents are just short, that's all." She said, her eyes narrowed. "Now, give the Inn back to the Taheki's, or I'll whack you again."

"Please don't take the inn from me! nii-san always wanted an inn, we were going to set up the Kamiya dojo to be an inn out the back! It would all have been perfect." A tear dripped onto Hiruma's rice.

"You tried to steal the dojo as well! I don't want to beat up an old man, but you have to give this inn back." Shinko said, feeling her resolve weaken. This man was just so… sad.

"I can't give up the inn, the name of Hiruma has to be remembered for something other than failure, I owe that much at least to nii-san's grave."

"Okay, okay, just don't cry…does the Hiruma name need to be remembered as a bunch of crooks?" Shinko patted the old man on the back, deciding that this _rurouni_ business was completely insane. "Um…why don't you come with me for a while, okay? You used to be a student of Kamiya-sensei, Kaoru-san's father, _ne_? Well, why don't you learn how to be _rurouni_, like me, and you can _help_ people. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to have the Hiruma's remembered as good guys, instead of pathetic wannabe crooks?"

"I just want people to remember my nii-san, he was so smart, and nice to me…" Hiruma nodded tearfully, "do you promise you can help me make people remember him?"

"Sure thing, Hiruma, just give back the inn."

"…okay."

"I'm going to fetch the Tahekis, they're staying with their cousin, you can come with me…" Shinko said, holding out a hand to the huge man sitting on the tatami mat in front of her, and sliding her shinai back into its sheath.

*****

"_Arigato_ Shinko-sama, _Domo arigato gozaimas_!" Hiro said, bowing to Shinko once again.

"It's fine, really, I didn't even have to fight him…"

"No, no, you have truly saved us! Thank you, thank you. Is there any way we can help you, Shinko-sama?"

"Well, I could do with a pair of rooms for the night, and if you have a more substantial weapon than this, a bokken maybe? Not a katana though, unless its blunt, or a sakabato…"

"Sakabato? But swords are illegal in Meiji, except for decorative purposes…the only sword in the village is Yamamoto-san's, but he hasn't used it since before the _bakumatsu_…" Hiro said hesitantly.

"I can't take that. No bokken either, huh? Are there any retired swordsmiths nearby? I only have one spare Shinai, and this one's nearly broken."

"_Gomen_ there are not many swordsmiths left in Japan..."

"Figures, it is the Meiji restoration after all. So no swords is a good thing. Can I just stay the night then, oh, and Hiruma too."

"Of course, and we will also give you food, for your journey as our thanks."

"Food? _Domo Arigato_! I get free food!" Shinko bowed to the two Taheki men, and Hiro's sister, a quiet girl who looked to be about two years older than Shinko. Beaming, Shinko went up to bed. This was a brilliant way to live.

*****

Kenji waited under the tree for Shinya, watching the play of light on water. It was true that he needed to defeat Shinya, then Yahiko, and finally his own father, Kenshin to win the sakabato and prove that he was better than any who came before, but then what? There was not much point in defeating an aging man who couldn't even use the Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu, it wouldn't prove anything. He needed a _worthy_ opponent, someone who he could fight against in a death-match, to truly test him.

"Hey, quit daydreaming, I'm here already."

Shinya had come to stand across from Kenji, his sword already held in a battle poised stance.

Everyone had always said that Shinya looked, and acted, exactly like a young Yahiko, but Kenji had difficulty reconciling the image of an impatient boy with the confident, intense Yahiko that was known as the 'one who caught a thousand blades'.

"Begin."

Shinya charged, pulling his Shinai up to attack. Kenji was about to do the same, but checked himself at the last instant, inspiration flashing across his mind. Shinya reached him, raising his weapon for a slash, but at the crucial instant, Kenji slipped aside, bringing his own blade to strike across Shinya's back. Shinya spun, surprise on his face, but still completely ready for the next attack.

"Where did you-?"

"You should never limit the opponents that you fight, or you limit your versatility. I've just been fighting more opponents." Kenji smiled, knowing that it would incense Shinya.

"Fine. I don't need any sneaky tricks to win, I can beat you fair and square!" Shinya lunged again, but this time, he chose a less committed attack, so as not to expose himself again. Kenji always won the first point.

*****


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Shinko could see Kyoto, sprawling out a few miles away, almost glowing under the afternoon sunlight. She'd realised that she was nearby yesterday, and decided to visit Misao and Aoshi, maybe even send a letter home via pigeon... The only obstacle was the two dozen bandits on the road in front of her.

"What are the rules here, Fatso?" Shinko asked her new apprentice, looking up at him.

"…Beat them up so that they learn not to mess with us and then take all their money?"

"Not quite, they have to learn not to mess with _any_ travellers, and you're holding the shinai too tightly."

"_Sumimasen_." Muttered Hiruma, adjusting his grip. "Is this right?"

"Much better. Now, You thieves…what you're doing is wrong, but if you swear to give up your life of thievery, we'll go easy on you."

There was a snicker through the group.

"The little girl thinks she can take us on, with just the two of them? They don't even have real weapons!" Scoffed one.

"Don't call me little!" Yelled Shinko, just as touchy about it as Yahiko had been (still was occasionally, he'd never gotten much taller than Kenshin), before launching into her attack.

Most of the bandits never even got a chance to defend before the avenging shinai whistled towards them with deadly purpose.

*****

Kenji watched the wall of his dark room, dissatisfied. He had won, he had beaten Shinya, fought until the younger boy's knees buckled beneath him, but Shinya _had not lost_. Until he admitted defeat, he was still a competitor for the sakabato, and as such, still stood in Kenji's way. Their battle was still inconclusive, whether or not okaasan interfered.

It didn't matter though, because Kenji would fight until the battle _was_ concluded, and he had won.

*****

"Look! Isn't Kyoto pretty, Fatso?" Shinko said, pointing to a large temple, surrounded by blossoming cherry trees, outlined in the red glow of sunset.

"Please don't call me that. My name is Gohei."

"Fatso suits better." Said Shinko, waving off the objection. "Anyway, now I'm going to show you the inn that Misao-san and Aoshi-san run. Okina used to run it, but he died…" Shinko was quiet as she remembered the cheerful, slightly eccentric old man, who had been an almost grandfatherly figure to her and Shinya; and Kenji too. "It's called the Aoi-ya."

"An inn?"

"No, you can't take this one over, it's the headquarters of the Kyoto _oniwabanshu onmitsu_."

"Oh."

"But anyway, we can easily get replacement Shinai here. Bokken too. _Chichi_ used to take us to dojo all the time when we visited Kyoto. We'll go tomorrow morning. Some of them probably remember me. And if they don't want to help us, then we'll still be able to further your training." Shinko felt very mature as she said this. It was a very good teacher phrase. She grinned up at Hiruma, happily. Since she'd left Tokyo, it seemed like the weights of responsibility and tradition had lifted off her shoulders, and she was free to behave however she pleased.

*****

"_Konbabnwa_!" Shinko called, poking her head around the back corner of the inn. "Misao-san? Are you here?"

"Shinko!" Misao ran towards the girl, still exuberant in her thirties, and dressed in basically the same ninja outfit. "What are you doing here? We've been looking everywhere. Kaoru sent us a message saying you'd run away two weeks ago."

"I didn't run away, I went travelling. I left a note."

"…well, I _guess_ that's okay. So long as you're fine. Why did you leave?"

"Kimono. And I was sick of everyone thinking I had to be a proper lady."

"Misao-chan, you should probably bring Shinko inside. It's late."

"_Hai, Aoshi-sama!_" Misao began to lead Shinko across the courtyard to the small building that Aoshi's voice had issued from.

"Wait, I have to get my apprentice."

"You have an apprentice?"

"Yep his name is Hiruma Fatso. He used to be one of Kaoru-san's students, but then he and his brother became crooks. Now I'm teaching him to be a _rurouni_ and help people so that the Hiruma name will be well-remembered." Shinko grinned at Misao.

"Cool!" Misao grinned back. "He can stay here too then."

"_Konbanwa _Misao-san, Shinko-sensei." Said Hiruma, bowing as the pair came around the corner. Misao stopped dead in her tracks, staring.

"That's your apprentice?" she asked Shinko casually.

"_Hai_."

"_Ooki_!" said Misao after a pause. she paused again before elaborating, eyes wide. "Huge! Ginormous!!"

"I am Hiruma-des"

"_Dozo yoroshiku_. said Misao after another pause. "He's even taller than Aoshi-sama." She added in a whisper to Shinko. This was quite an achievement on Hiruma's part, since Aoshi was a full head taller than Sanosuke (He seriously is. He's almost twice as tall as Misao in the Manga.)

"…Well, I'm not sure if we have any _futon_ big enough, but you can stay too, Shinko-chan's apprentice."

"Hiruma Gohei."

"Right, whatever." Misao waved a hand at Hiruma, already accustomed to his size. "Do you want to send Tsubame-chan and Yahiko-kun a message?"

"Yes please. Thank you, Misao-san."

"_Doitashimashite_" Misao grinned. "Dinner first though, the birds don't like flying at night."

"Dinner sounds great! I've nearly run out of supplies again. Do you know how much people _eat_?" Shinko pointed at the sadly empty-looking bag on Hiruma's shoulder that was for food (as apprentice, Hiruma got the bonus job of substitute packhorse.)

"We'll stock you up again when you go." And with that, Misao lead the incongruous pair inside to a tasty dinner, but then again, anything tastes good when you're hungry, and Misao had learned her cooking from Kaoru

*****

Shinko was practising with her battered shinai in the courtyard when Misao came out of her and Aoshi's room the next morning.

"_Ohayo_ Shinko-chan." She said, leaning against the doorframe yawning. She was still wearing the loose white robe that she'd slept in, and her long black hair wasn't plaited yet.

"_Ohayo Gozaimas_, Misao-san." Shinko said, looking up briefly, distracted.

"You're up early."

"This was always the best time to train at home. I've already been awake for more than almost an hour."

"Impressive. What about your apprentice?" Misao asked, raising an eyebrow, and folding her arms across a body that had never quite lost its boyish flatness.

"He's old and needs to sleep. Anyway, he's only learning Kamiya Kasshin Ryu."

"Oh? What are you training I at the moment?"

"Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu. _Chichi_ learned it by watching Kenshin-san, Shinya and I learned it by watching _chichi_. I'm not nearly as good as Kenshin-san was though. Even Kenji can't learn it properly without a teacher." Shinko shrugged, and when Misao didn't reply right away, returned to her training. Flexing her calf muscles, Shinko drew in a deep breath, and leaped into the air, twisting her body to gain even more height, before bringing her blade down with all the downwards force of gravity behind it. _Ryutsuisen_.

A loud crash echoed through the quiet courtyard, and the cool, damp morning air was filled with flying shards of wood, as the Shinai shattered.

Misao whistled when the air had stilled again, pulling a shard of bamboo out of the framework of her door.

"I guess this sort of attack isn't made for a shinai…that attack from above, it was one of the moves unique to the Hiten style, _ne_?"

Shinko nodded, panting slightly. "I can't use it in a fight though. I'm not fast enough, or strong enough. _Chichi_ says it's because I don't have a reason to fight, other than my own desires. All three of us, we know the style, but we could never master it."

"I doubt Yahiko-kun phrases anything so poetically."

"He doesn't even use it, other than to train. He said that he decided to become strong in Kamiya Kasshin-ryu, and that's what he did." Shinko shrugged, using the hilt of her shinai to brush her jagged fringe out of her eyes.

"Why did you learn it then?" Shinko looked up in surprise. No one had ever asked that before. No one other than Kenji and Shinya, who had learned it with her and their parents, knew that the three children of the younger generation of the _Kenshingumi_ could even use the basics of the deadly, ancient style.

"I don't know…Shinya learnt it because Kenji learnt it, and we were inseparable. I wanted to learn it too, even though I've never seen Kenji as my rival…I guess it's part of the tradition of the sakabato…"

"That's hardly a good reason to fight. Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu is a style developed to protect the weak, as much as Kamiya Kasshin-ryu, despite being the most deadly of the Satsujin-ken."

"…Do you think that I should have stayed in Tokyo, Misao-san?" Shinko asked after a hesitation. Suddenly, running away from home seemed childish, and selfish.

"I don't know. I went travelling when I was your age. I was looking for Aoshi-sama, and met Himura when I was trying to rob a couple of thieves. I don't think you should have run out on Tsubame-chan like that though. She's been frantic."

"I should go back to Tokyo." Shinko said, tasting the words.

Misao didn't get a chance to answer before a young girl, dressed in a shinobi costume that was similar to Misao's ran into the courtyard.

"_Haha_!" She squealed, jumping into Misao's arms, her thick black bangs messily clipped back from her face.

"_Ohayo_ Yuki-chan. You're energetic this morning." Misao said, fixing one of the clips.

"_Ha_i!" Yuki grinned up at her mother, full of nine-year-old exuberance. She'd been in bed already when Shinko had arrived the previous evening, so her face went soft and blank with surprise when she saw the short-haired girl standing in the courtyard with a shinai hilt. After a few seconds she grinned. "Shinko _Nee-san_! When did you get here? Is Shinya _Nii-san_ here too?"

"Not today, Yuki-chan… let's go eat breakfast."

"_Hai_!" Yuki jumped out of her mother's arms and grabbed one of Shinko's and Misao's hands in each of her own. "Let's !"

Shinko left the courtyard, holding the hilt of her shinai, and wondering what was the right course of action.

*****

Y'know what, Caseyedith? I do _not _think people are interested in my story. Thanks for your faithful reviews thus fa.

To everyone else REVIEW DAMMIT!! Also, next chap things are going to really start breaking from the original.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

"_IIE_!" Yahiko's loud voice rang across the dojo to Kenji. "Don't use the blade so much! If that were a real katana, you would have just killed Shinichi-kun. Kasshin-ryu aims to disable your foe, not kill him." Shinichi looked at Yahiko, eyes wide, as he gasped for breath after receiving a particularly hard hit from Kenji's shinai. Kenji ignored both instructor and training—partner, his narrowed eyes gazing at the sakabato on Yahiko's hip.

"Kenji-kun." Yahiko continued, emphasising the suffix, "If you don't want to learn this style of fighting, then fine. But don't waste everyone's time with your untrained satsujin-ken." Kenji's blue eyes narrowed, and Shinichi Jubei shivered as a chill seemed to sweep the room.

"You think I am wasting your time, Yahiko-_sensei_?" Kenji asked, loading the words with cold loathing and derision.

"Yes. You are a genius, Kenji, Kenshin said that Kenjutsu comes more naturally to you than anyone he has ever seen. But you waste your time trying to learn a style that died out when Kenshin refused to accept the name of Hiko Seijuro." Yahiko's voice was cool and measured, but he held the shinai he'd been using to demonstrate at the ready.

"It wouldn't be dead if my father wasn't too weak to use it!" Snapped Kenji, cold anger still radiating from his _ki_ with such intensity it was tangible.

"Learn Kamiya Kasshin ryu. That's what both of your parents want. Then you can take the dojo, and the sakabato." Yahiko said, his own voice cold and terse.

"You think I'm taking away what was your rightful inheritance, because you met my parents first. Because they practically adopted the poor, pathetic street rag that you were. Well, Yahiko-sensei, I'm sorry that my true, _blood_ claim has robbed you."

"Quiet!" the room fell silent as Yahiko grabbed the front of Kenji's gi, the _kenki_ emanating from him making the air too heavy for sound. His brown eyes blazed as he stared into Kenji's own. "Never, for an _instant_ have I ever begrudged you Kenshin's sakabato as your inheritance, Kenji. I only regret that, as Kenshin's son, you have so little insight.

"On my fifteenth birthday, I fought Kenshin, in _genpuku_. I was told as we waited to begin, to remember every fight I had fought in, and unleash everything I had felt in those battles, in a single sword strike. I didn't win, but my strike landed, and I _earned_ the right to wield this sakabato, until the time I was meant to pass it to you. If you want to win this sakabato, then _fight_ me for it. One point." Yahiko backed off, shinai held ready. Kenji lowered his into the sheathed position that was the starting stance for any Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu attack.

The scene was so similar to one fifteen years ago, that he had witnessed as a toddler, that he felt slightly disoriented. Yahiko felt it too. Once again, he fought a red-haired swordsman, standing in the _battojutsu_ stance, but this time, it was a shinai resting at the swordman's hip, and the sakabato was sheathed at his own. This time, the outcome would be drastically different.

"Begin!" Yahiko wasn't sure when Kaoru had entered the room, but it didn't matter, as he rushed against his opponent. Once again, he could see the face of every enemy he had beaten, every reason he had for wanting to get stronger, only now, the faces of his conviction were even more numerous. Yahiko saw the strike coming, he could easily have used Hadome and then Hawatari, but he didn't. Kenji wanted to use the Hiten style, so Yahiko would show it to him.

"_Ryukansen!_"

*****

Shinko looked at the Shinai hilt in her hand, Misao's words echoing through her head …_That's not a very good reason to fight_… She turned it over, wondering why she did fight. What had prompted her to run away? Why had she done what she'd done? _Why did she want to fight?_

She looked up, at Misao, who was balancing the Aoi-ya's accounts, Aoshi, who was meditating over his cup of tea, while it slowly got cold, and Yuki, who was playing with Hiruma's beard. Originally she had been very shy of the huge man, but Shinko had told the girl about how she had met Gohei, earning laughs from Yuki and Misao, and even a small smile from Aoshi. Hiruma was watching Yuki with something akin to terror as she tugged at the thick grey strands of hair, but he had his hands hovering protectively and oh so gingerly in the air around her, as if he was frightened she would shatter. Shinko grinned slightly at the two; it was nice to know that because of her, her apprentice had the chance to redeem himself. The realisation prompted her to a decision, and she stood up.

"I'm not going back to Tokyo – I won't learn what I need there. Misao-san, Can you send _haha_ a bird, telling her I'm okay? Come on, Fatso. You don't need me to teach you. You already know Kamiya Kasshin, and Satsujin-ken, all you need to do is be kind to other people like your _o-nii-san_ was to you. That's the best way to honour his memory. Let's go back to the Taheki inn – you can protect it for them"

"Hai, Shinko-sensei." Hiruma Gohei said, standing up and following Shinko to the door.

"Gochisosama! Thanks for the food, Misao-san!" Shinko called through the door, as an afterthought. Misao sighed, and looked at Aoshi.

"It's lucky I gave the supplies to Hiruma this morning. That girl is hopelessly enthusiastic! _Ne_, Aoshi-sama?" Aoshi didn't answer, but a slight smile curved his lips, as if he was sharing a private joke with his cold green tea.

*****

Kenji lay on the floor of the dojo, his lungs screaming for more air as red fire lance through them. Yahiko was standing over him, Shinai in hand, his eyes unreadable.

"Can you stand?"

"I don't-"

"Try." Yahiko's tone brooked no argument.

Kenji managed to struggle to his feet, his body protesting. He had never taken such a painful blow from a shinai, he hadn't thought it was possible. He coughed, and tasted blood, but didn't let it spill from his lips, to proud to let Yahiko, and his watching mother realise how weak his body was.

"Do you understand, why Kenshin swore never to kill again? He spent _four years_, when all he did was kill, with Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu. Since then, he has never killed again, no matter what. He has atoned for his crimes; that's what this sword represents. Can you wield it according to the philosophy, the stigmata, it bears?" Yahiko held the Sakabato out to Kenji, who stood there, the taste of blood on his lips, and stared at the goal of his dreams, resting at his fingertips…

"No, I don't deserve it." He said quietly. "Give it to Shinya-kun…Or Shinko-san." He turned and limped from the dojo, his back stiff and proud. He didn't deserve it...not _yet_.

"That boy of yours is a piece of work, Busu. And I used to think he was so dumb." Yahiko mused quietly to Kaoru, watching Kenji's retreating back.

"Was his strike serious? Was it a good strike?"

"No, it was arrogant and presumptuous, but it was a good loss for him. He can start to learn now."

"I know. But somehow, I feel as if I've lost him today…" Kaoru looked at the exit to the dojo, unease intruding on her thoughts.

*****

Shinko walked through the countryside, avoiding the occasional cart, and the even rare car, that passed by her. Japan was slowly becoming more open to the Western world – in Tokyo, cars were becoming an almost common sight, their chunky black bodies puttering along on padded wheels. Gohei was walking behind her, lost in thought as he carried the sakura-patterned bag that held all of Shinko's possessions (one change of yukata and a few shinai, which she'd gotten from Misao), and his own grubby canvas bag in which there were also two obento and some rations, thoughtfully provided by Misao-san.

"Shinko-san, what if being nice to people doesn't work?" He asked, looking up. Shinko paused, turning around and looking at Hiruma in confusion.

"What do you mean? Why wouldn't being nice work? How can it not work?" She asked, fingering the Shinai tucked into her waistband.

"Well, ever since I had my growth spurt at fifteen, people have been scared with me..." Gohei said sadly. "Except for nii-san."

A look of sadness crossed over Shinko's face as she walked back to rest a hand on Gohei's elbow (which was about the height of her shoulder).

"Well then, you'll have to prove to people that you're not just some scary thug." She said, patting his shoulder and beginning to walk beside Gohei.

"But what if they won't let me?" Gohei asked worried. He'd been feared all his life, simply because he'd been big and scary... Before, he'd always taken it for granted, and used the size and strength to bully the people who rejected him for it, but now at sixty, he was coming to realise that maybe that wasn't the answer.

"Then bash them over the head with a shin- actually, don't... If someone is still scared of you when you are trying to be nice, then either ignore them, or keep trying." Shinko shrugged. "Once when I was eight, I duelled one of Kaoru-san's students, and beat him so badly, in just one hit, that he was scared of me for months. Everyone found it really funny, but I felt horrible and tried to make it up to him. Now he's one of my friends, and the only person in Tokyo who won't fight me because he thinks I'm too strong, rather than just because I'm a girl." Shinko grinned, feeling sure that her analogy would help Hiruma (who, actually, it just confused).

"Okay... I'll try to be nice, even if they don't believe that I am." Hiruma said after a moment.

"Good. Now, I reckon it's about lunchtime..." She trailed off, her face falling.

"Don't worry – Misao-san gave me the food." Hiruma said, pulling out the obento from his bag. Shinko grinned, her face lighting up as she took the food. "We'll be back at the Taheki's in a day or two, what are you going to do then?" Hiruma asked as Shinko tucked in, some forgotten paternal instinct stirring in him. She was barely fifteen, and looked younger in the loose yukata and with her short hair.

"Hm?" Shinko looked up, her chopsticks halfway to her already full mouth. She thought for a moment, chewing. When she finally swallowed, she replied, "I don't know – maybe I'll go visit some of the other cities, learn more about different Kenjutsu and stuff. Probably though, I'll stay in smaller towns, since they're more likely to be in need of help..." She shrugged, her eyes shifting to stare over the horizon. Hiruma watched her for a moment, noting the latent determination in her eyes, and the calm assurance with which she held herself, before returning to his meal.

"Maybe I can figure out what I fight for on the way..." Shinko muttered to herself, too quietly for her apprentice to hear.

*****

See? she doesn't go straight home - I've got all sorts of new adventures planned out for her. And the story will get a bit darker before long, so I'm changing the rating.

Anyway, as always, please review!

~me.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Kenji lay on his futon, staring at the ceiling. He'd cracked a rib when he had lost to Yahiko, and Megumi had confined him to his room for a week, three days of which remained. He'd spent the time thinking.

At the front of his mind had been the burning question _why did I lose? _He was just as good as Yahiko, and he was faster. He should have easily dodged the attack, but the fire in the dark-haired warriors eyes, and his presence had slowed Kenji's movements with trepidation.

_Yahiko is a _warrior. Kenji realised with a start. The Dojo's instructor was a true samurai, not merely skilled with the blade. _That _was why he had lost. He bit his lip, adjusting his blankets slightly so that they did not press on his rib. Shinya had a glimmering of that spirit – refusing to acknowledge defeat, refusing to give up his goals and pursuing them with all his strength.

His father had a banked flame in his world-weary purple eyes as well, even Shinko had it – moreover, hers was stronger than Shinya's, nurtured in adversity...

There was a flash of pain as his teeth penetrated the flesh of his lips. He pressed a hand against them, feeling the hot wet blood. Shinya called him cold, and he was right. Kenji let a faint, rueful smile quirk his bitten lip as he admitted Shinya being right about something. He was too cold, too uncaring, to have the flame of conviction.

"Hey! Kenji!" Shinya ran into the room, a wide grin on his face. "Misao sent us a pigeon from Kyoto – Shinko's there, she's fine." He waved a small piece of paper around, his yukata sleeve falling away from his arm, revealing a fading yellow bruise from his fight with Kenji.

"May I see?" Kenji asked, standing up and holding his hand out. Shinya nodded, his rivalry forgotten in his excitement. He'd put a cheerful face on it, but he had been as worried as his parents about his twin sister.

_Shinko arrived here last night, she's healthy and cheerful, but doesn't want to come home yet.  
- Misao _

"Are you sure she's _still _in Kyoto?" Kenji asked Shinya, but the boy was too excited to hear.

"We're going to Kyoto in two days time – _haha _needs to get someone to take care of the _Akabeko _while we're gone. We're going to catch a train. I can't wait to see her; I'm going to tell her all about how _chichi _whooped your butt. She's in _so_ much trouble though..." Shinya continued to blather on.

"Can I come?" Kenji asked. He was forced to repeat his request, louder, before Shinya heard him.

"What, why do _you_ want to come?" He demanded, his eyes narrowing and a hand falling to his shinai. "You don't have any... dishonourable intentions towards my sister do you?"

Kenji didn't quite trust himself to answer, but treated Shinya to his most withering look.

"True. I guess you don't have the range of emotion required to entertain dishonourable intentions to anyone." That stung slightly, considering the recent realisation Kenji had just come to.

"I want to train with Shinomori-dono for a while."

Shinya regarded him suspiciously for a moment longer, before nodding. "I'll ask _haha_" he said, turning on his heel and exiting the room, plucking the note from Kenji's hand as he did so.

Kenji sat down on the futon, and found himself hoping that Shinko _would _be in Kyoto, despite his main reason for going being his desire to get away from the Dojo, and maybe learn about what made him a swordsman, rather than a warrior, from a man who had once frozen his heart for revenge.

*****

Shinko woke up as she heard someone tapping on the door of her room at the Taheki's inn. Groggily shuffling over to see what they wanted, she realised that it was still only an houror so after sunset – after arriving around noon, she'd spent the entire day training, and consequently, was exhausted.

"Mrfgh?" She asked, rubbing the back of her head and tugging slightly at the loose sleeping robe she had on.

"Ano... Shinko-sama, my father got a pigeon from a lady named Misao, with a note for you..." Taheki Hiro's voice came hesitantly through the door.

"Really..." Shinko opened the door and held out a hand for the note. "Thanks for that Hiro-kun..." She took the note and Hiro bobbed his head before darting off, red-faced. Shinko, having spent years playing in only her underwear had little regard for modesty, and in her sleep-befuddled state, had taken the note with the hand that held her robe shut, revealing a significant wedge of chest (not much cleavage though, as her figure was almost as boyish as her haircut). Walking back to the bed, she lit a small lantern – the village was too rural and small to have electricity yet – and began to read the note, written in tiny handwriting that was still, unmistakeably, Misao's.

_Who would have thought that you'd be staying with the Tahekis? Taheki Kotaro was pre-Meiji Oniwabanshu... anyway, I thought you might like to know that your family are ..._Shinko paused to turn the scrap of paper over_ ...on the way to Kyoto to see you. And Kenji's coming too, do I smell romance? I'll let you decide whether or not you come see them, they'll be here in three days. Misao._

Shinko clutched the note tightly, feeling sick. She'd never thought her family would come to see her – Misao mustn't have mentioned the fact that she'd left Kyoto before the pigeon – and now found herself torn between the possibility of visiting her family on neutral ground, where she would still be free to keep travelling afterwards, and the likelihood of them being able to persuade her to return home before she'd found out why she wanted to be able to fight. But she did want to see Kenji, even Shinya... She just couldn't face her mother, yet, not without gaining something worthwhile from her travels (other than an ancient apprentice)

She scrunched up the note as she realised that it would mean three days, including this one. Even if she left now, she wouldn't make it back before them...

*****

Kenji sat on the train, feeling it bump and rattle under him, jolting his still tender rib, the ocean moving past him out the window to his left. Shinya, sitting opposite the red-haired young man, was also staring out the window, watching the tracks blur past under the train's dozens of wheels. They'd gotten on the train early that morning, so as to be at Kyoto by late afternoon.

"How long are you going to stay in Kyoto, Kenji-kun?" Yahiko asked suddenly, leaning back in the seat next to his son.

Kenji shrugged, his dark blue eyes cloudy as he touched his still bruised and aching side. Megumi had let him leave his room a day early since she didn't think that he'd be able to get into much trouble on a ten hour train ride.*

"I don't know. I wish to learn from Shinomori-dono, so I shall stay there as long as it takes, or as long as they'll let me."

"I should be offended. I've been trying to teach you for ten years, and instead you just run off to Aoshi-san instead." Yahiko smiled ruefully, ruffling the hair that he still wore in the same style as Shinya, although his was a shade darker than his son's.

"You... you beat me, Yahiko-sensei, you showed me that I still had many things to learn, but Kamiya Kasshin is not the style that I shall master."

Yahiko regarded him for a moment longer, before nodding, satisfied, and turning to Tsubame, who was sitting next to the young man, and engaging her in conversation, as Kenji returned his gaze to the ocean, idly listening as they discussed their daughter.

"I've been so worried about her, Yahiko, but what are we meant to do?" Tsubame asked, twisting her hands in her lap.

"She's growing up – when I was her age, I had completed genpukku, and was already known as 'the one who had caught a thousand blades'. Kenshin was a hitokiri at fourteen, and Misao was an accomplished, if boisterous, kunoichi." He shrugged, leaning over to take Tsubame's hand. "We need to talk to her before we decide what to do."

"She's fifteen! This isn't the Shogunate anymore, Meiji is the age of enlightenment. Children shouldn't _have _to grow up by the time they're fifteen."

Kenji sighed to himself, leaving the couple to their bickering. It amazed him that no-one else had seen the independence and determination that had always smouldered in her eyes. If they had, they would never have tried to change her into a demure Japanese flower in a kimono.

*NB **On Train: **This is an estimation. I haven't seen the anime, so I'm not sure if they give actually times, but the first train trip from Tokyo to Yokohama took nearly an hour, and by looking at a map, I figured the distance to Kyoto was about eleven times that. If anyone knows how long it actually took, then I'd be glad to know.

*****

A/N: I'm not going to be updating for about a week, since I'm going down to the coast, and after that, updates will be considerably slowed, since I'm running out of pre-written material, and have to go back to school.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

The afternoon that Kenji and the Myojin family were on the train to visit Kyoto, the girl they had gone to visit was barely a day and a half's walk from the Taheki inn, and the same distance from her destination. She had decided that she would go to Kyoto – maybe not to reconcile with her mother, but maybe to leave a note for her, or something... Shinko adjusted the Shinai on her hip and quickened her pace to a loping run, her hands tightly gripping the drawstring of the sakura-patterned bag that she kept her supplies in.

*

"Misao-san!" Tsubame called, running into the Aoi-ya as fast as her kimono would allow her. She was still neat and unrumpled after hours on the steam train. "Misao-san! Where is Shinko?" She greeted the slightly older woman warmly, hugging her before looking around.

"Auntie Tsubame! _I _saw Shinko-nee. She had breakfast with us the other day – is Shinya-nii here?" Yuki tugged excitedly at the long sleeve of Tsubame's kimono, before peering around looking for Shinko's twin.

Tsubame let go of Misao to stare at the nine-year-old in horror.

"Where has she been since then?"

"Mmmmm..." Yuki frowned, chewing on her lip. "I don't know – she left in the middle of breakfast. She had a big old man with her. He was scary..."

The anxious woman went even paler.

"But I liked him! He was nice too. Shinko-nee said he was her... apprentice." Yuki continued on cheerfully, oblivious to Tsubame's scandalised expression and her mother's awkward one.

"I didn't think Shinko had it in her..." Shinya said as he came in with his father and Kenji. Yahiko looked very worried as he noted his wife's expression.

"Misao-san, may I talk to you in another room for a moment?" Tsubame said, as Yuki pranced over to Shinya and Kenji with excited greetings. Yahiko had subtly sidestepped Yuki's hug and wrapped an arm around Tsubame's waist, rubbing his thumb soothingly along the base of her shoulder blade.

Misao looked from Tsubame's frantic form to Yahiko standing calmly – actually calm, not the tense stillness of a warrior about to attack – and nodded, sliding open one of the rice paper screens and leading the couple through.

As soon as his parents were out of earshot, Shinya, with Yuki on his back, turned to Kenji.

"So Shinko _walked _all the way to Kyoto with some man in tow..." He said with a grin that was a mixture of shock, respect, amusement, and jibing – the last directed at Kenji.

"It would seem so." Kenji said blandly, resisting the urge to hit Shinya.

"He wasn't some man! His name was Uncle Hiruma Gohei. He was even taller than _chichi_."

"I know that name..." Shinya and Kenji said, nearly in unison.

"When Kenshin-san first met Kaoru-san..." Shinya said, frowning.

"The murderer pretending to be _Battosai._" Kenji said, his dark blue eyes wide and turbulent. Shinya swore creatively.

"What do those words mean?" Yuki asked as the dark haired boy put her down and turned to Kenji.

"We have to find her." He said, hands fluttering panicked to the bag in which he had a shinai as well as a change of clothes for the trip. Tsubame had tried to persuade him to leave the bamboo sword behind, but he had adamantly refused, using the time-honoured excuse of _he's doing it_, this time in relation to Kenji.

"We should ask Shinomori-dono if he knows where she went, and you have to stay here – tell Yahiko-sensei. He'll be able to do more."

"You're going alone?" Shinya demanded, glaring.

"Of course – I'm faster than you." Kenji said, already walking towards the small garden-adjacent room that housed the small shrine, and usually, Shinomori Aoshi.

The tall, dark-haired man, who, just like Kenshin, looked younger than his age, sat in front of the small, Buddhist shrine, knees crossed and eyes staring blankly at the floor in front of him.

"Shinomori-dono." Kenji said respectfully from the door. To his credit, Aoshi didn't even flinch, standing up fluidly before turning to face the young man.

"Yes, Kenji-kun?" Aoshi asked, his dark eyes the same as Kenji's, except for something warm and fierce that had developed since he had fought Kenshin in this very city, and had come to understand whatever it was that Kenshin's son now lacked.

"Do you know which way Shinko-san went?" Kenji asked bowing slightly in greeting.

"Yes – if you leave Kyoto by the northern road, the town she was going to is two walk days along, near Biwa lake, Ishiba," Aoshi said simply, not bothering to ask for an explanation as he saw the fear and worry in Kenji's eyes. "_Ja matte _Kenji-kun." Kenji nodded and turned, running out of the Aoi-ya just as Tsubame began to shout at Misao – who probably hadn't even told them the fact that Shinko's 'apprentice' was a murderer and a thug.

*

Shinko gasped out a laugh as she saw Kyoto appearing beyond the rise, calm in the red light of the setting sun – her steady, long-distance run had managed to more than halve the time it should have taken to walk – this was almost the exact spot she had met the bandits last time. Although really, they were more like low-class thugs.

"Hello little missy," a voice came from just off the road. "I don't suppose you'd mind paying a toll, would you?"

Shinko stopped, seeing a short, wiry man with wisps of beard and dirty Western clothes sitting by the side of the road.

"Your toll? Are you with those bandits from last time?" Shinko demanded, stopping and placing her hands on her hips.

"Are you the young woman who was travelling with the old giant-man?" Asked the man, standing up and slipping his hands inside the loose zippered coat he wore.

"I'm Shinko – and I already told the others. This is wrong, and as a Rurouni committed to justice and honour and stuff, I'm meant to stop you." She pulled the shinai out of her bag, and stepped back, readying herself to meet the man if he attacked. "So go away."

The man laughed, running one hand through the tufts of his beard, regarding Shinko with a sneer.

"You can't be serious little girl." He said, pulling his right hand from inside his jacket, a heavy gun now held confidently in his thin, twig-like fingers. "No-one uses swords anymore – and a shinai is no better than a toy."

"I beat up a dozen of your thugs with one." Shinko said, wisely resisting the urge to blow raspberries at the gunman as her eyes fixed on the gun with a dreadful fascination – there was very little chance she could dodge a bullet. She wasn't nearly as good as Kenshin, so she would just keep buying time and hope for a lucky break...

"True. That's why I'm here – and I charge a much steeper price. Tanuki-sama was very annoyed at them." The man held out his free hand. "Now, Shinko-san, the toll is 10 yen*..." Shinko's eyes widened at the exorbitant sum.

"But – but..." Shinko stood behind her shinai, shifting nervously, her eyes trained on the man's eyes as she tracked the tip of his gun with her shinai.

"First I'll shoot your right foot. Then you're precious sword hand. Then I'll take your head off, and shake you to see how much falls out." The man said casually, aiming his weapon downwards.

"Nice to see you've got it so well planned." Shinko said nervously. A flash of movement caught her eye, dragging her attention over the shoulder of the battered western sweater. Red?

Some instinct prompted her to move, and she flipped back, landing on her knees three metres back, breathing hard as her ears registered the loud bang, smoke and dust from the road clouding her vision.

Not waiting for another chance to dodge bullets, Shinko grabbed her shinai and ran, sprinting towards Tokyo, her heart pounding.

"Kenji-san!" She yelled as she saw the flash of red hair again, running towards her. She skidded to a halt, feeling the worn straw soles of her sandals shred a bit more as she grabbed his arm. "Run!"

* (pov shift)

Kenji didn't need to be told twice, and his greater height let him easily keep up with Shinko.

"What happened?" He demanded, he'd never seen Shinko this distressed. He would have sworn on the Sakabato that he could hear her heart.

"Crazy guy with a gun... tried to shoot me..." She gasped, not slowing as they neared the gates "didn't wanna pay the toll." She rubbed her left hand on her yukata, transferring with an irritated scowl, and Kenji's eyes widened as he saw blood smeared across the dusty cloth.

"What happened to your hand?" He demanded, pulling her to a halt just inside the gate – Yahiko and Shinya would be here soon...

"Huh?" Shinko took a deep breath, visibly calming herself as she shut her eyes for a moment. When her beathing had returned to normal, she looked down, and winced as she saw the mangled shinai in her right hand, The 'blade' of the already battered weapon had shattered when she'd landed on it in her flip, and now there were splinters and rocks in her left palm, blood slowly oozing from the deeper grazes. "Oh...ow..."

"Shinko! Kenji!" Yahiko had to grab the side of the gate to stop himself from overshooting. Shinya ran up behind him, panting, as his father wrapped Shinko up in a tight hug.

"_Chichi, _Shinya..." Shinko pulled away from her father to look at them, her hands clenched together.

"Cross-dresser – Keep this up and you really will turn into a boy!" Shinya teased, wrapping one arm briefly around his sister.

"Shut up, _baka_." Shinko snapped, poking her tongue out. "_I_'ve been having adventures."

"In my clothes, with my shinai."

"_I_ got an apprentice – beat that." Everyone stopped as she said that.

"_Sumimasen, _Shinko-san." Kenji said politely – he didn't trust the two Myojin males to be reasonable. "You do know that your 'apprentice', as well as being twice your height, was a criminal and a murderer?"

"Oh!" Shinko froze her eyes wide. After a moment, a look of disappointment and pain flitted across her face and she looked down. "I... forgot... but-"

"But _what_?" Demanded Shinya. "He could have _killed _you!" He stopped in front of Shinko grabbing her shoulders.

"He wasn't that bad! People had always been scared of him! What was he meant to do? Run the Akabeko in one of those stupid aprons?" Shinko shouted back, her eyes flashing.

"Shinko," Yahiko said quietly, separating his children. "What happened?"

"I fell on them."

Frowning, Yahiko gently took the smashed shinai away from his daughter and pulled her fingers open, exposing the grazes.

"How did you fall."

"I was dodging a bullet." She said with the characteristic Myojin bluntness, and more than a bit of sarcasm. The three men fell silent again, and a palpable aura of menace began to radiate from Yahiko – drowning out the ones emanating from the two younger swordsmen.

"Who the hell _dared-_"

"It's fine! I'm fine! I can deal with him myself." Shinko pulled back, stuffing her hands in her pockets and squaring her shoulders. "And I'm not coming home.

There was a loud silence as Shinko glared at her father, biting her lip.

"Why not?" Shinya asked after several long moments.

"Because I want to help people – and I want to know _why _I want to help people." She said stubbornly, not looking away from Yahiko's crushing stare. "I don't want to spend my time in kimono and waiting in the Akabeko."

"But-"

"You should go home – _ototo_, you need to train to take over the dojo after Kaoru-san and _chichi._"

"I'm not your _oto-_"

"Shinko," Yahiko interrupted Shinya's enraged denial, his voice sounding as tired as Kenshin's did when the violet-eyed man was asked about his past exploits. "Shinko, I'll stay here for a few days, after Tsubame-chan goes back. Before I leave, you will have a bout with me – after all, you're from a samurai family, you should have a _genpukku._ If I deem your swordsmanship adequate, I won't make you come home, otherwise, you return without an argument, okay?" Yahiko's dark brown eyes were so intense that they looked black as he held Shinko's gaze.

"_Hai_, _chichi._"

Satisfyied Yahiko nodded, and turned to Shinya. "You'll have to wait until I get back." He said with a wry grin at the boys outraged expression.

"Yahiko-sensei, I think I should take Shinko-san to see a doctor for her hands – and I doubt she wants to speak to Tsubame-san." Kenji said quietly, speaking for the first time since she had revealed her bullet-dodging activities. "You should go back and make sure that she isn't worrying." He watched the dark-haired man with increased respect as he nodded and left. It seemed that at least one of Shinko's parents understood something of her.

"Come on Shinya – let's see who can come up with the best excuse." Yahiko said, glancing over his shoulder at Kenji with a glare that promised unpleasantness if Shinko came back with a single chestnut hair out of place, or her yukata retied.

*

*NB **on Toll: **okay, now since 1800, around when this was set, the US dollar has increased its value about 26 times. I couldn't find statistics for the yen, but it's probably much more, since they have a rapid industrial revolution looming in their near future, as well as a pair of wars that leave the world bankrupt, and then getting rich again to become the cutting edge technological empire we know and love. (Also, they use sen -1/100th of a yen – the same way Americans use cents in memoirs of a geisha – forty years in the future). So, I'm thinking 10 yen at this point in time is about $20. Which is a lot for a fifteen year old rurouni, who is _walking_.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

"These grazes aren't too bad – they're just messy," said the doctor, pulling the last bamboo fragment from a stone-faced Shinko's hand. He'd already swabbed it with a disinfectant that had burned Kenji's nostrils from several feet away, and now proceeded to tie soft bandages around them. "There's also some deep bruising to the right palm, but you should be back to top condition in a week or two. I'm worried about these calluses though; do you want something to soften your palms up again?" He pointed to the hardened flesh along Shinko's right hand.

"No." Snapped Shinko, her eyes flashing as she stood up. "I like them." Still glaring at the doctor, she brusquely paid, producing the money from the drawstring bag that Kenji recognised as her shinai bag. He didn't have time to even formulate a comment before Shinko left, beckoning from him to follow her.

"Where did you get the money, Shinko-san?" Kenji asked, feeling slightly guilty that he hadn't managed to pay – it would have been proper, but then again, with Shinko, what was?

"I sold my obi." She said calmly, stalking through the streets. "Do you want to come with me to the Hakoshi dojo? I'm going to get my hands on a bokken, since those damn shinai keep breaking."

"Of course, it will be my pleasure." Kenji said with a faint smile, lengthening his stride slightly so that he was beside the younger girl. She really did have fire in her eyes. A thought struck him.

"_Sumimasen, _Shinko-san, but why did you decide that Shinya would be the one to inherit the dojo? Is it not mine by right?" He asked, his voice neutral.

"Because you don't want it, do you?" She paused before the last two words, making them a real question, glancing at him with her warm brown eyes wide, and faintly worried that she had annoyed him. "You wanted to study _Hiten Mtusurugi-ryu, ne_?"

"Still – I don't appreciate having my birthright given away by proxy." Kenji said with a slight chuckle. "Although, actually, I _don't_ intend to study _Kamiya Kasshin _anymore – I'm staying in Kyoto to learn from Shinomori-dono."

"Really? That means I can come visit you!" Shinko grinned, her eyes lighting up – she'd always been easy to please.

"We're here." Kenji said, smiling back.

*

"Where did you go?" Demanded Tsubame as Yahiko and Shinya came back in, slightly out of breath. Misao was standing sheepishly near one of the doors, adjusting Yuki's hair-clips.

"Well, you see, Tsubame-chan... Shinya thought that he saw someone who looked like Shinko, so he came to fetch me – since you were too busy yelling at Misao-chan – and we chased her down, only to find out that 'she' was some twelve-year-old boy..." Yahiko tried his best winning smile, as Shinya made choking sounds, red-faced and trying not to laugh as his father threw him a dirty look.

Tsubame looked from father to son, her eyes narrowed. When neither offered up another explanation after several moments, she nodded brusquely.

"I'm going to say hello at the Shirabeko, the two of you should get tidied up, since dinner is in less than an hour."

Yahiko nodded, kissing her on the cheek as she left. As soon as she was judged out of earshot, he turned to his son with a grin.

"Good acting – she wouldn't have bought it if _you'd _tried to look sincere."

Shinya burst out laughing.

"I can't believe _haha_ bought it! As if I could mistake someone else for Shinko!"

"Oh." Yahiko's grin slipped off his face and he chuckled in resignation. "You're a dreadful liar then."

"And your innocent act was worse. I bet even Yuki could tell you were lying, _ne_, Yuki-chan?"

"I'm _Oniwabanshu – _of course I could tell!" Yuki snapped, as Misao clipped the last butterfly-shaped pin into the girl's hair.

"Sorry, Yuki-chan, my mistake." Shinya said, hoisting the young girl onto his shoulders. "Let's go see if we're as tall as your daddy yet."

Yuki giggled, clenching her fingers into Shinya's hair for balance and eliciting a wince from the teenager as the two wandered off.

"Don't let Tsubame-chan see them like that." Yahiko said to Misao with a grin "Yuki is much too young for matchmaking."

"Shut up, shorty." Misao said, thwacking the back of her palm against the side of her childhood friend's head.

*

"_Konbanwa _Hakoshi-sensei." Shinko said, smiling at the young dojo-master, using the title out of deference for his status as a teacher. He was only a few years older than Kenji, and had recently inherited the dojo when his father retired. They had often trained together when they were all younger, although without the benefit of legendary swordsmen hanging around his home, Hakoshi Ken hadn't managed to keep up with the younger children.

"Ah, Shinko-san, Kenji-san, _konbanwa._" He bowed slightly in greeting, as his last class of the day peered around him, trying to get a better look at the two newcomers. "How have you been?"

"Fine – I was wondering if I could get a bokken off you though," Shinko said, gingerly holding up her shattered shinai. Her left hand, snugly tucked in the pockets of her yukata, had a layer of bandages that inhibited any movement, as well as stinging irritatingly, and her right hand felt like it had a hilt-shaped dent on it.

"Of course – just let me finish this drill." Hakoshi said, pushing his fine dark hair out of his eyes.

"_Sumimasen, sensei,_" One of the students asked, putting up his hand. "Is that the Kenji-san that you told us about?" The question sent a ripple of murmurs through the class – Kenji had trained here before, along with Shinya, and – before Tsubame's edict – Shinko. Hakoshi nodded in agreement, sighed as the excited whispers got louder.

"Can we see you fight, please, Kenji-dono?" One of the other boys asked, wide-eyed.

"Not tonight," Kenji said with a glance at Shinko. "But I will be staying in Kyoto for a while, so maybe another time." The group of students – most of whom looked to be a year or two younger than Shinko – sighed in disappointment, turning their attention back to their sensei as he finished showing them the drill.

"_Sumimasen, _Shinko-san." He said, walking over as the class paired up. "Here, please take these – if you're still like your brother, you'll need more than one." He smiled slightly, as he handed Shinko three bokken with a slight smile.

"_Arigato, _Ken-san." Shinko said, dropping the more proper 'sensei', and using his first name, due to their long acquaintance.

She glanced over the group of training students, noting their slow and clunky moves – a fairly inexperienced class – and the occasional blatant flaw in technique. Tilting her head to indicate one of the worst offenders to the dojo master, Shinko and Kenji bid Hakoshi farewell.

"Are you going to duel Ken-san again?" Shinko asked as they walked back to the Aoi-ya in the twilight. Kenji hadn't duelled Hakoshi in several years

"No, it's not worth it. I was thinking I'd wait till your hands were better, and then simply borrow Hakoshi's training hall." Kenji said tonelessly. Shinko bit back a hint of irritation; Kenji had seemed like he might have been thawing out, but now he was back to being completely unfathomable. Shinko stopped as she realised they were very close the Aoi-ya already.

"I can't stay there – _haha_ will find me." She said, frowning, chewing slightly on her lower lip as she thought. It was a nervous habit she'd picked up a few years ago, when Shinya accused her of 'pouting' when she was concentrating.

"I'm sure that you can go in the back way," Kenji said, beckoning and turning down a side street that would take them in behind the inn.

"I guess so..." They walked down the smaller alley in silence, before turning onto another small road, running behind two rows of buildings, including the _Aoi-ya_.

"Shinko-san," Kenji said as they reached the tall fence around the back of the Aoi-ya, "Will you tell me about your... 'adventures' sometime?" He asked, easily climbing the fence – in an establishment belonging to the remnants of the most renowned onmitsu in Japan, the fence was practically a back door.

"Sure," Shinko reached up to grab the fence, but stopped, frowning in consternation as she saw the bandage on her hand.

"Do you want some help?" Kenji asked, perched on the top of the fence, his red fringe falling into his eyes as he leant down towards Shinko, proffering his right hand, using the left to steady himself. Shinko hesitated, she could probably get herself up using only her (albeit bruised) right hand...

"Pride comes before the fall, Shinko-san." Kenji said, a smile brushing his lips as he shook his hair out of his eyes. Shinko huffed slightly, but held out her hand to Kenji, letting the older boy grab her wrist as she climbed up the fence, using the hand more as a point of balance than as support. Seconds later, they were both sitting atop the fence in the last light of sunset, staring out over the gracefully curved roofs of Kyoto, with temples rising from among the lower buildings to pierce the flaming heavens.

"Kyoto is so beautiful, isn't it?" Shinko murmured, the fresh scent of trees mixing with the heavy enthralling scent of the rare flowers that filled Misao's garden.

"Kyoto has... elegance," Kenji murmured, catching a small leaf that had blown off of its tree, and was now dancing in the light breeze at their backs. "Beauty is in living things... Kyoto may last for many years, but beauty is ephemeral, and always changing." The leaf blew away again, in a brief dance across the rooftops before it vanished from even the sharp eyes of the two watching it from the fence.

"Unless someone burns it down again." Shinko said after several moments, the light reflecting a tint of pink to her cheeks.

"Nani?" Kenji looked at her, confusion darting across his features as she looked resolutely over the city.

"Kyoto will last for many years unless someone burns it down again." Shinko repeated, glancing at Kenji.

"Ah." They sat in silence for several more minutes, until the sky had faded to the faintly luminous royal blue of early night.

"We should probably go in – they'll be wondering where you are." Shinko said suddenly, shifting.

"They're more likely to be wondering where _you _are – but they'll be expecting me." Kenji said, swinging off the fence and into the darkness of the garden. Shinko was about to follow suit as she heard one of the screens on the second floor of the _Aoi-ya_ slide open, soft bare feet whispering against the balcony as Tsubame came out, clad in a loose cotton sleeping robe, her face pinched and worried.

There was an instant of frozen silence when even the rustling leaves seemed to pause their sighs, as Tsubame saw her daughter, clad in dusty yukata, and white-faced as she met the eyes of her mother.

*

"Shinko..." Tsubame's voice was full of the emotions that didn't make it past the mask of shock to her face.

Shinko stared at her mother, feeling panic rising in her chest as she heard her name, said in the way that only Tsubame could say it – the mother's way, which she wouldn't be able to fight against, because there was no anger there, nothing hard or commanding to resist, only love.

"Shinko-san," Kenji's voice was soft, hidden in the leaves as they began to move again, and it recalled to her _why _she was wandering Japan as a rurouni, and she looked back at her mother, the determination in her striving for something just as indescribable as Tsubame's love.

"I'm sorry, _haha, _but I need to do this... I need to find..." She trailed off, her eyes, black in the darkness begging her mother to understand, as, with a single, fluid motion, she jumped off the fence, rolling as she hit the ground, away from the _Aoi-ya, _vanishing into the dark streets, her eyes stinging with guilt, as Tsubame stared at the space she had left, despair and disbelief warring on her face.

*

Aren't I nice? I made it not a cliff-hanger, because otherwise this chapter would be too short... Also, I think I'm going to up the rating soon, because darker themes will be developing... but only to T... Anyway, the next few chaps are being annoying, so they may take a while.

*


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

Shinko spent the night in a small dingy inn by Kyoto's docks, tucked into a corner with her meal, trying to focus her concerns on her rapidly dwindling supply of money, rather than the rude comments of the various sailors, who, after they had worked out that she was a girl, had been torn between mocking her for being a washboard-figured cross-dresser, and suggesting she might be there looking for company. Of course, she would rather focus on that any day, rather than the meeting with her mother.

"Why are you tucked up there, sweetheart? Aren't we good enough for you?" One of the drunker sailors said, standing up from the bar. Shinko ignored him; as soon as she had let he mind wander back to the garden, she couldn't tear it away, and Tsubame's voice echoed through the memory, the simple way that she had said _Shinko _drawing pangs of home-sickness from where they'd lain dormant.

"You won't even answer me? What kind of behaviour is that? Didn't your mother teach you any manners?" The last question cut through Shinko's reverie, and in an instant she was on her feet, chopsticks splashing into her small bowl of watery miso soup.

"Shut up." She hissed, pulling one of the bokken out of her bag. "Go away."

"I hit a nerve," the sailor said jeering. He was large and well-muscled, like many of his kind, but he was staggering slightly, even from the effort to stand. "Why, was your mummy a street-walker? Is that why you have no manners?"

"Hey, Kimichi – go easy – maybe she's an orphan..." muttered another sailor, suddenly uncomfortable. The first man had just uttered a grave insult, in any situation, culture or language.

Shinko took a deep breath, anger icy in her veins as she stepped away from the table. She could see her hands shaking, but forced them to be still around the bokken as she faced Kimichi, impassive.

_Shinko... _Tsubame's voice ran through her mind again, warning, but she ignored it.

"If I had a blade, I would kill you where you stand for saying that." Even though she spoke quietly, the room echoed with her words, silenced by the icy aura emanating from her.

Nervous laughter rippled through the tavern, dying quickly. Somehow, no-one could bring themselves to doubt her; even Shinko – with the tiny part of her mind that wasn't overwhelmed with this cold, burning anger – knew that she meant every word, and was terrified by it.

Kimichi took a step back, nearly toppling over and bringing his fists unsteadily up in front of him. Shinko ignored them. She moved slowly, judging each movement in her mind as she made it, only at walking pace, until, just out of the reach of a single swing, the sailor watching her nervously, she stepped forwards with her left foot, swinging her blade up and through.

Even though there was little momentum to her attack, she threw all of her weight behind it, and the sailor, who was too drunk to do anything but stagger, felt it, as the wooden bokken slammed into his side, pushing him back several steps, until he teetered and fell.

The inn was silent, as every eye in the place stared at Shinko in horror. She been moving slow enough to easily be intercepted, but in the instant of the attack, it had seemed impossible, and now that it was over, no-one quite knew what she had done.

Shinko left the tavern, climbing up the stairs at the back to the room she had rented. As soon as she was out of sight, she felt her shoulders begin to shake, and she sank to the floor, leaning against the wall, staring at nothing as the emotions of the day, as well as exhaustion, fatigue, pain from her injured palms and horror at herself overwhelmed her, mixing with the agony of indecision left from the meeting with her mother.

Biting her lip and feeling her eyes blur, Shinko made her way quickly to her room, locking the door before she collapsed onto the futon, shaking as her breath escaped her in sobbing gasps.

She just wanted it to be... _simple._

_Shinko... _

*

"Tsubame-chan, _matte_!" Yahiko caught his wife by the shoulders, holding her gently but firmly. "You can't just run off, how could you even find her?" He forced her to look into his eyes, ignoring her attempts to pull away.

"We have to find her! You can't just let her _wander _through Kyoto! It's bad enough she's been out there all night!" Tsubame shrieked. "You persuaded me to wait here for her to come back last night, _but she didn't_!" Tears began to slip down her eyes. "You _knew _she was here! And you told me that you'd run after some boy you _mistook _for her! She was _injured_!"

"_Haha_! Calm down!" Shinya ran to stand beside Yahiko, dropping the shinai he had been training with. "She was fi-" Shinya broke off as Tsubame glared at him.

"You be _quiet_!" Tsubame snapped, pointing a finger at Shinya. "You are _grounded_! And so are you!" She snapped at Yahiko, her eyes narrowed as she began to walk towards the door, ignoring the two's protests.

"Tsubame-chan?" Misao walked in from the garden, hair still undone after sleeping. "Don't you think that you're overreacting?"

Tsubame glared at the slightly older woman. "What would you do if it was Yuki?" she hissed, clenching her small fists.

"Ah..." Misao paused, before her face softened with understanding. "Well, in that case, Tsubame-chan, a little bird told me about a young girl who managed to take down a big brawny sailor twice her size by walking up to him and hitting him with a stick."

"Where?!" demanded Tsubame, rounding on Misao. "Where is she?"

"Dockside – small tavern called _Umenemu-ya,_" Misao said, stepping back slightly. "I could go with you if you waited for me to get dre-" Misao didn't have time to finish her sentence before Tsubame ran out of the _Aoi-ya_, her sandals clattering on the cobbles.

"Come on Shinya," Yahiko said, pulling on his sandals. "She's very obstinate, I don't want her to hurt her hand on someone's face."

"But she's-"

"When I first met her, she was all of the things you were about to say. Now she's a mother." Yahiko tugged lightly on one of Shinya's spikes of hair. "Hurry up."

*

When Shinko woke up, the first thing she did was pull the blankets over her shivering, still-dressed form. The second was recall the previous day, and wonder that it could all fit into the space of a single afternoon and evening. This took less than five seconds, and then she managed a third thing – she heard screaming from downstairs.

"_Where is my daughter?!_"

Shinko let a stream of swear words escape her lips she had picked them up from uncle Sano, and pretended not to know them ever since. But they seemed appropriate as she heard her mother's banshee wail begin what promised to be another horribly eventful day.

It may have been the hardest thing she had ever done, but her duty as a Rurouni sent her running downstairs to save the stupid sailors that last night she would have gladly maimed...

"_Haha!_" Tsubame, flanked by Shinya and Yahiko, was facing down the innkeeper and a lot of foul-tempered, hungover sailors. The aura emanating from her would easily match Yahiko's when he was in a really foul mood.

"_That's _her mother?" One of the patrons asked weakly. "No wonder..."

"Shinko..."

"_Haha..._ I'm fine. You don't have to scare these people..." Shinko said gingerly walking towards her mother and placing a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure they have good points..." Yahiko placed his hand on Tsubame's other shoulder, and they guided her out, red-faced and quivering with pent-up emotion, her hair dishevelled.

"I wanted to _hit _them..." she said faintly.

Shinko almost laughed, wanting to add '_and I wanted to kill them', _but it didn't seem appropriate. And the fact still scared her.

"They have their bad points too," She said instead.

"Why did you run away again?" Shinko froze at the question, not wanting to answer. She wasn't even sure that she could answer, but with her entire family standing around her, waiting for an answer, she could hardly refuse.

"Well, I... I didn't like wearing kimono, and not being allowed to practise kenjutsu, or do all the things that Shinya and Kenji could, and... I wanted to do something _different_... like Kaoru learning _ikebana_, last year, but more drastic..." She knew it was a lame explanation, but it was the best she could come up with..

"Running away, halfway across the country, is like learning how to arrange _flowers_?" Shinya asked in disbelief. "Maybe I should get lessons."

"Anyway, I like travelling. It's not like the roads are really _dangerous_, and I'm sure I could outrun most of anything that came my way... and I can help people. I helped Gohei – fatso-beard. He was a baddie, and now he – should – live in a nice inn and help people... of course he _did _try to steal it less than two weeks ago... And I beat up a heap of bandits who were charging a toll..." Shinko choked on her sentence, as she realised that the next phrase out of her mouth was going to be '_but they got a replacement who shoots at people'_. "Anyway, please don't ask me to come home, or I'll just run away again..."

Tsubame stared at her daughter, open-mouthed, completely at a loss, as usual. After a moment she turned to Yahiko, who looked thoughtful.

"You'll still fight me in a week, that's the longest we can leave the _Akabeko_. Until then, you'll be training with Shinya and Kenji, as well as any other swordsman in the city who will train with you. If _Tsubame _deems you good enough, then we'll let you go."

"What? I'll never be allowed to-" Shinko broke off, seeing Tsubame's expression.

"Let's go back to the _Aoi-ya_. You and Shinya are still in trouble, Yahiko. And Shinko, even if I _do _let you go-"

"-which you won't-"

"- I expect you to send monthly pigeons. No excuses."

"But I-"

"We're going back – I can't be seen in public like this, and you, young lady, need a _bath_."

The patrons of the tavern had crowded at the door to watch the exchange, all except the barkeeper.

"I should really go pay my mother a visit..." muttered one as the four Myojin's left.

"Mine's dead; but I'm going to put some flowers on her grave – as soon as the sakura come out, or this afternoon... bye."

The innkeeper crouched behind the bar, a phone that was thoroughly out of style with the cheap decor, pressed to his ear.

"Tanuki-sama, the girl I told you about last night, the one who took down Kimichi last night, she just left – said she helped a man called Gohei, and beat up bandits. Yes, she's probably the same girl. She just left with her family – her father is _Myojin Yahiko_, no I don't think he's staying in Kyoto. HE said something about leaving after a week... _wakata _Tanuki-sama." The tavern keeper put the phone down, before standing up and announcing that he'd be opening the bar early this morning.

*

NB **About Amekakeru no Hirameki: **Now, we all know that Shinko isn't good enough to use Amekakeru in reality, but it's not unreasonable to assume that she knows the technique, since it was Kenshin's most impressive, and indeed, even in the very beginning, it was mentioned. However, this very slow-paced version, which one would assume would be easy to avoid, is actually _not. _It is actually very similar to an attack in the Italian _fabris _school of rapier (attack by resolution), when one approaches the enemy slowly with the point down in front of them. When just out of distance, the attacker steps forward with their favoured foot, raising their blade under their opponents to skewer the hapless fellow, while stepping forwards and to the side with their off-foot, and there is bugger-all he can do about it. This would be even truer if the opponent is too drunk to stand up straight.

And Tsubame must have become a little more assertive – she owns a restaurant and is married to Yahiko with Shinya and Shinko as children. They would have eaten her if she hadn't toughened up. Also, the goal is to update about once a week, within a day of Monday... So, for the last five minutes of sunday...

*****


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

Shinko began spending her days training in Hakoshi's dojo with Kenji and Shinya. Within a day or two, young kendo students from all over Kyoto were filing in and out of the dojo, to challenge the three, or to simply watch.

"This is great – have you duelled Kaname-kun, Kenji-san? He has a really interesting stance." Shinya wiped his sweaty hair out of his eyes, flushed with excitement as he looked around the full dojo, his eyes lingering on the few bright kimono in the audience.

"Kaname's stance is too narrow- he doesn't have enough stability or lateral movement. If you come at him from the sides, then he's at a loss." Kenji said, looking bored. He and Shinya had decided to forgo the protective gear, Shinya believing that no-one would hit him, Kenji believing that the extra speed and manoeuvrability would prevent him from being hit.

"Was that the one with the black ponytail? He could pivot – when Shinya tried the sideswipe he stepped out of the way – he could fight circles around anyone he was faster than." Shinko said, stretching her fingers. The her right hand still ached slightly, and the skin on her left hand was still soft, and pulled slightly when she spread her hand out, but she'd wrapped a thin bandage around her palm and now gripped a bokken experimentally.

"How do you notice this kind of stuff? Not even Kenji picked up on the pivot – which makes Kaname-kun's stance suddenly a lot less impressive..." Shinya grumbled, sitting down next to his sister. Hakoshi's dojo had practically become a tournament ring, possibly with a bit of help from Misao, who had decided that the more people Shinko could fight, the better she could train.

"I kept track of your fights with Kenji – you should try it. You pick things up." Shinko said, standing up and beginning to stretch. "Anyway, I think I'm going to go and challenge Hakoshi-san, so that when I actually start these practise bouts, people will take me seriously." Shinko walked over to the dojo-master, loosening up the muscles in her arms as she did so. She hadn't actually participated in any of the bouts yet, spending her time completing drills in an out-of-the-way corner of the dojo. However, with half of her week of preparation over, she had decided to join the informal competition, cracking scabs or no.

"Reckon she'll win?" Shinya asked, as he watched the two talking.

"Of course. 'Reckon' she'll be hit?" Kenji responded with a shrug. Shinya didn't answer, frowning as he sat down on the bench to watch his sister as she and Hakoshi walked to the centre of the hall, Shinko looking small, even next to Hakoshi's average build. The two faced each other, as one of Hakoshi's students took up the position of the Judge, giving the signal to begin.

Hakoshi attacked, with the frontal assault that was becoming more and more common to Kenjutsu. Shinko neatly sidestepped, pivoting out of the way.

"Hey! That was Kaname's move!" Shinya said in indignation. "That's cheating!"

"No, she just learns fast. Shinko-san has developed a talent for observation." Kenji said, barely paying attention to Shinya as he watched Shinko's technique intently.

"And copying." Shinya muttered. It irked him that Shinko had managed to pick out Kaname's trick faster than he had. After all, she was a _girl._

"That's how we all learn. Look, she uses the same styles as we do." He gestured at Shinko, indicating the defensive postures of _Kamiya Kasshin _as they flowed into deadly _Hiten Misturugi-ryu _attacks, albeit half-formed, and ineffective in comparison to the real thing.

"She's holding back then." Shinya muttered as he watched his twin duck under Hakoshi's blade, the bokken ruffling the brown spikes of hair that stuck out of her ponytail.

"She's injured – and look, she's stretching Hakoshi's abilities, as well as her own, by intentionally keeping her movements as precise as possible."

"That's what you do in drills. Hey! What happened there? Why did she miss?" Shinya demanded, as Shinko's blade swept under Hakoshi's bokken, before pulling back slightly to crack against his parry.

"Feint. If she'd hit, there was a chance he could parry, so she's probably going to convince him to overuse the guard, so that she can attack elsewhere while he does it automatically. It's basic tactics."

"How do you know? People don't develop habits that fast."

"In a fight they do." Kenji said calmly as Shinya swung her bokken low a third time in succession, pivoting on her right foot to get around Hakoshi's left side as he countered, before swinging the practise sword into his side as she finished the spin.

"Ryukansen?"

"Pretty much. Too easy to disrupt though, if he wasn't expecting something else." Kenji leaned forwards, his hands gripping the bokken. That was how Yahiko had defeated him, as well as cracking one of his ribs.

The student called the first point, and a murmur swept through the crowd as Shinko shoved the bokken into the waistband of the yukata, stretching her fingers out again as she readied herself for the second exchange.

"Best out of three, _ne _Hakoshi-sensei?" She said, cheerfully. "I don't want a long bout." Her fingers flexed on the bokken, her eyes tight.

"Her hands hurt." Shinya muttered, eyes narrowing, his own hands wrapping around each other.

They watched the bout in silence, like the rest of the spectators, as the two fighters moved back and forth, attacking and parrying, Shinko still moving carefully, until, with a faint thud, Hakoshi's blade swung into her shoulder, the blow cushioned with her own bokken in a guard that had been just a fraction too slow.

"Hakoshi-sensei's point..."

"She _let _that land." Hissed Shinya, glaring at his sister.

"Didn't want to humiliate him." Kenji murmured back still watching. Shinko shook her hands out several more times before the third bout began.

This point was considerably shorter. Shinko barely let Hakoshi get in three swings, before she crouched down slightly lower, and, with a neat feint, the point thudded into his shoulder.

"The bout goes to... Shinko-san." A wave of applause ran through the crowd, as Shinko bowed to Hakoshi, walking over to Kenji and Shinko.

"Where did you learn that, the pivot you used?" asked a young swordsman with a short and silky black ponytail.

"I watched you when you fought my brother, Kaname-san. You used it. The way you pivoted... fitted very well with the style I use." Shinko smiled.

"But I only used it twice..." Kaname said, frowning. "It's the signature technique of my dojo's kenjutsu – _kajou-ryu._ I was here to advertise how effective it was..."

"Well, it _is _effective." Shinko said shrugging as she sat down with Kenji and Shinya.

"Hey, I want to duel you next, Shinko – I would have thought that you'd gotten rusty." Shinko leaned an elbow on Shinko's shoulder, grinning coolly at Kaname. "Go advertise."

"Hey, he was nice. Kaoru-san still complains about when _Kamiya Kasshin _was small – we could have helped him out."

"Is that you going all moral on us, _imoto_?" Shinya asked, rolling his eyes.

"I am _not _your _imoto_!" Shinko snapped, elbowing him in the back of the head.

"Children." Kenji muttered, rolling his eyes. "Anyway, Shinko already promised me a rematch."

"Hey, I'm getting a queue." Shinko said, grinning. "I wish _haha _was here to see this."

"Those stuck up little-"

"Shinya-kun, if you want to keep them away from your sister, then all you have to do is let her fight _me. _That'll probably scare them off – no man would want a woman who's better than him in kenjutsu, _ne _Shinko-san?"

Shinko flashed a glance at Kenji, hurt flashing across her face. She'd said that, but he didn't have to repeat her. _He _didn't even think that.

"Well then, I'm not letting her anywhere near you." Shinya snapped, tugging Shinko away from Kenji and giving her a one-armed hug.

"Well, I need the practise if I'm going to have a prayer against _chichi_. So, if I'm not allowed to fight any of the boys, and there aren't any girls fighting here, then I'll give you a bout." She stood up, ignoring everyone around her as she grabbed her bokkken.

"Are you implying I'm not a boy?" Shinya demanded good-naturedly, grabbing his own practise weapon.

"Yep, pretty much. Wanna make something of it?"

"That's it – this is personal now."

Shinko just stuck out her tongue as she took up her position.

*

Shinya shifted his grip on the bokken, watching Shinko. She was waiting several feet away, her bokken held up in one of the starting stances of _Kamiya Kassshin._

In the crowd, there was a murmur. The girls were leaning forwards, watching intently. Shinya felt a stab of irritation as he realised that most of their attention had shifted to Shinko, after her bout with Hakoshi – previously they'd been cheering _him _on – a few of them had even come up and asked his name. Now some of them were focussed entirely on Shinko, their eyes alight as they watched her.

"Shinya-san and Shinko-san, best out of five..." Said Kaname, who had volunteered to judge. Usually there had been several duels going on in the dojo at a time, except when a _girl _had challenged first the Dojo-master, and then her own brother – who was one of the best two swordfighters there – the other fighters had lost interest in their own bouts.

"Begin."

Shinya ran towards his sister, whipping the bokken from where he held it at his side, towards Shinko. She ducked away, not even bothering to counter as she completely avoided the attack, before ducking back behind her brother and bringing a slash down towards his shoulder as he spun all the way around to face her, managing to get his weapon up to block her blade a fraction of a second before it connected with his collarbone. Shinko's blade bounced off his with a fraction of the force he had expected, and swung around to connect solidly with his side.

"Don't you _dare _underestimate me," Shinko said as they stepped back, her eyes narrowed. "I'll get really annoyed if you do."

"I won't, _imoto_." Shinya grinned, as Shinko glared at him, thwacking him on the head with her bokken.

"You're impossible," Shinko growled good-naturedly, thwacking him on the head with her bokken, before turning to Kaname. "Kaname-kun, you don't need to bother calling the points, we'll do it." Shinko grinned at Shinya and Kaname, backing off, and facing each other.

"...But you can call the start..." Shinya added after a moment of expectant silence.

"Right, sorry." Kaname said, running a hand through the fine dark hairs of his ponytail in embarrassment. "Begin."

Shinya approached rapidly in the Hiten Battojutsu stance, Shinya mirroring him, her feet light – she was going to get out of the way and hit him as he came by again. An instant before he was in range though, he checked his momentum and jumped, leaping forwards into the air, blade swinging down with a faint whistle. Shinko backed off, bringing her bokken up to block, but the momentum was too much to be deflected with her single-handed grip, and the blade cracked into her left shoulder, knocking her blade aside.

"Ryu Tsui Sen?" hissed Kenji from the edge of the crowd, as Shinko pulled away, wincing, holding her sword in her right hand only as she shook her shoulder out.

"Nearly," Shinya said, not taking his eyes off Shinko. "Don't underestimate _me, imoto. _I think htat was my point?

"_Baka." _Shinko said, rolling her shoulder and resuming her grip, cautiously approaching with the blade

"_Busu_ – second generation." Shinya laughed back, before charging into attack again. Shinko darted back, keeping away from Shinya's bokken, maintaining the distance as she flexed her left hand on the hilt.

"No way – I'm better than Kaoru-san, by a long shot." Shinko said, darting in with several probing attacks that Shinya easily blocked, counter-attacking in a similar manner. "Although that was a good shot. Get the jump a bit higher, and you'll have it down."

"You shouldn't be talking to me, Shinko – this is a serious fight." Shinya said, knocking her bokken away with a slash at her chest, which she parried with the end of her hilt.

"Well then, let's try a little harder, _ne, _Shinya?"

*

Damn, the names get confusing. I shouldn't have given two main characters nearly identical names... Also, I'm worried I'm being too melodramatic and obsessed with the technique of the fights. I always **_hated _**fight scenes... Anyway, no real pertinent info, except that 'kajou-ryu' would approximately mean 'spiral-style' (I liked Kajou better than 'rasen' or 'neji', since at least with it, I don't have to start putting up Naruto disclaimers)

*


	12. Chapter 12

a/n: Sorry about missing the update last week, I was going to squeeze it in between a friend's mum's wedding and drama camp - which overlapped - but I didn't get home till 10:30 and I was exhausted. So here it is, late, please enjoy.

Chapter Twelve

There was a gasp around the audience as both Shinko and Shinya increased their speed, darting back and forth with only the crack of wood and wood and the occasional split-second of equilibrium when the two strained, blade to blade showing what was happening.

Shinko twisted around Shinya's blade, striking for his side, but he blocked it with his arm, before sliding his blade under Shinko's and twisting it away.

"Doesn't count?" He asked after Shinko had parried his counter-attack and dodged back.

"No, it would've been a scratch."

"Okay." Shinya lunged in, swinging his blade up towards his sister's stomach, but she scooped it off, thrusting towards Shinya's heart. He twisted sideways, mimicking her, and stabbed for her side, the padded point connecting just below the right side of her ribcage, and she staggered back, her teeth clenched, nodding her acknowledgement of the strike, before she darted in around the side, attacking at Shinya's left.

The boy dodged, dropping low under the attack, but Shinko jumped up, thudding her blade into her twin's shoulder, hard enough to force him to his knees and using it to alter her trajectory around behind him. She landed clumsily, rolling on the floor in a tumble of limbs and cloth and wood.

"Your point." Shinya said as he got back to his feet, massaging her right shoulder as Shinko began to pick herself up, swearing loudly. "My arm's gone numb."

"Damnit! I nearly _had _that!" She growled, getting to her feet, ponytail half undone and flopping in her face. She staggered as she did so, letting out a gasp of pain and stumbling forwards, her left leg buckling under her. "I think I twisted it..."

"...Tie?" Shinya asked after a moment, holding out his hand to shake Shinko's

She nodded, her bandages rough under his palm. The hall was quiet, everyone staring at the twins, many with scandalised expressions at Shinko's vocabulary.

"I think I'm going to be in trouble if I keep getting myself injured like this." She said, favouring her left leg as she limped back towards her seat, Shinya and Kenji following.

"Is it sprained?" Kenji asked, kneeling down in front of her to check her ankle.

"Don't think so – it should be fine in a few minutes. I just landed on it a bit off." She said, drawing circles with her toes. "See? Better already."

"Where did you learn the acrobatics? I mean, you didn't have enough height for _ryuitsuisen, _except that I was low to attack, but you got around behind me; how?" Shinya asked, holding his shoulder.

"It was meant to be a cartwheel – using my blade and your shoulder as a platform..." Shinko said, looking embarrassed as the two boys stared at her. "Remember when we were thirteen and saw the circus? Well, I tried some of their tricks, you know, cartwheels, handstands and flips, thinking that they might help with _Ryutsuisen _or _Ryuikansen._" She said, shrugging. "They're kind of helpful as exercises and such, but I can't use really them in a fight."

"Impressive." Kenji said quietly, standing up. "Maybe you could show us some of them later? They do seem to be useful."

Okay, but I'm going home now – I want to get back to my drills, where not everyone will be gaping at me." She walked down the hallway, still limping slightly.

By the door, she was stopped by a tall girl in a green kimono patterned with yellow leaves, and tied with a plum obi, shot through with gold.

"She's pretty," Shinya murmured, as Shinko began to talk to her, and they walked out of the dojo together.

*

"So, how did you injure your hand?" Natsuko was a pretty young girl, a year or two older than Shinko, and had stopped her by the door, asking her about how she'd learned to fight.

"I did a back flip onto a gravel road, holding a shinai. It broke..." She shrugged, not exactly wanting to explain about being shot at by some skinny man in western clothes.

"Wow, so, how long did it take you to learn to fight so amazingly? You're probably the best fighter in there!" She grinned, her dark blue eyes alight.

"Well, I've always trained with shinai and bokken – my father, as well as Kenji-kun's parents are swordfighters, Kaoru-san owns a dojo..."

"A _woman_?" Natsuko asked, shocked.

"Yeah, she doesn't fight so much anymore, but her style, as well as the one Kenji's father used, is the one that the three of us use, sort of."

"I wish I could join a dojo..." She sighed, tucking her hands into her sleeves.

"Well, if you're ever in Tokyo, you should look up _Kamiya Kasshin_." Shinko said with a smile.

They chatted for a while longer, Natsuko saying that she wanted to learn judo, rather than kenjutsu, but her father wouldn't hear of it.

"I was lucky – None of my family really mind me learning kenjutsu – except _haha_ – they don't understand either though." Shinko said when the talk had swung back to being _allowed _to learn how to fight.

"They think that you should learn more appropriate skills?" Natsuko added, with an empathetic sigh.

"Mm. Kaoru-san, she's like an aunt, almost, she owned a dojo and practised kenjutsu until she had Kenji, and gave the dojo to my _chichi, _but _haha _says that was different, for some reason." She rubbed her hands together, as they reached the _Aoi-ya._ "This is where we're staying – it belongs to... family friends."

"Mm, I've heard of it, but my parents say that it belongs to seditious spies..." Natsuko said, surveying the building suspiciously.

"Hardly," Shinko said with a nervous laugh. "They're just a harmless family with some unusual talents."

"Oh..." Natsuko said, looking slightly disappointed.

"_Konichiwa, _Shinko-chan!" Misao said, coming out to greet the two girls. "You're back earl- who's that?"

"This is Natsuko-san, she was at the dojo, and wants to learn judo..."

"Well, I..." Natusko blushed, looking away, and shrugging.

"Judo, eh? You'd probably have to ask Aoshi-sama about that – I only know Aikido, Karate, Ninjutsu, Jujutsu, and a _little _bit of kenjutsu I picked up from Yahiko-kun..." Misao said, listing them on her fingers.

"Uhhh... Misao-san?" Shinko said with a pointed look at Natsuko, who was wide-eyed and staring at Misao.

"Well, I don't really use it much anymore..." she finished lamely, shrugging.

"_Oakaasan_!Shinko-_nee_!" Yuki shouted, running out, a few blunt kunai dangling from her fists. "Shinko-_nee, _come see, I managed to hit Kyoto on _otosan_'s map."

"Well done – how far away were you standing?"

"...by the door." Yuki said shiftily.

"Sure... well done then." Shinko said, hoisting Yuki onto her back with a smile, and wincing slightly at the pressure on her ankle. "Anyway, I came back to work some more on my drills, I fought Shinya in the dojo and nearly took myself out."

"Silly," Misao said, shaking her head at Shinko. "You do know that the thing that Tsubame-chan will be most concerned about is your ability to defend yourself, rather than fast and fancy attacks."

Shinko paused, thoughtful, before nodding.

"Well, I'm going to go work on my drills and defensive stances. You can come with me, or get Misao-san to show you the basics of budo..."

*

When Shinya and Kenji came home, they found Natsuko, flushed and with her long black hair stabbed into a bun with a pair of chopsticks, and talking with Misao, discussing various different styles of martial arts.

"Konbanwa, Kenji-san, Shinya-kun. This is Natsuko-chan, she's one of Shinko-chan's friends. She knows lots about theoretical martial arts, but she offered to help me cook dinner tonight in exchange for practical lessons!" Misao waved the two boys over, introducing them, slightly unnecessarily.

"_Konbanwa _Natsuko-san." Shinya and Kenji said, bowing slightly, Shinya with a faint blush as Natsuko stood up, the old ninja garb she had borrowed from Misao looking slightly scandalous on the taller, more shapely girl.

"Konbanwa, Kenji-san, Shinya-san..." Natsuko said, folding her arms around her in an attempt to preserve a greater degree of modesty. "Um... it's getting close to dinner-time, and I should go home soon... but I'll show you my _haha'_s recipie for _okonomiyaki_."

"We used to have _okonomiyaki _all the time – when I was younger, there were two ladies who lived here – married now and living elsewhere – but one of them was called Okon, so we made it all the time!" Misao laughed cheerfully, grinning. "You remember Okon-chan, don't you, boys?"

Kenji and Shinya nodded as NAtsuko dragged Misao into the kitchen, grabbing a neatly folded kimono and obi on the way.

"Where do you think Shinko is, Kenji?" Shinya asked as they walked into the _Aoi-ya_.

"Probably training in the courtyard." Kenji said shrugging as Tsubame came down from upstairs, smiling.

"_Konbanwa, _how are you two?" She said, grinning. "I found this lovely silk shop just a few streets down from here – I got enough materials to easily make another kimono for Shinko really cheaply! Natsuko-chan told me about it! Isn't that girl just so delightful?"

"You're making Shinko another kimono?" Shinya asked, looking after Natsuko.

"Of course – she needs something nice to wear while she's in Kyoto." Tsubame said cheerfully. "She can't just wear your clothes all the time, can she?"

"Um, _haha_, Shinko _hates _Kimono..." Shinya said, looking back at his mother.

"Well, now that she's made a polite, female friend, I'm sure that she'll be less stubborn, instead of always trying to fit in with you boys."

"Um..."

"Anyway, Natsuko is a very nice, sensible girl. I'm sure that she'll be a wonderful influence on Shinko, so I'm making a kimono to celebrate. And she's very pretty too, isn't she?"

"Yes..."

"Tsubame-san, Natsuko-san wants to learn Bujutsu and was wearing one of Misao's shinobi outfits – which were made for a much smaller person. Are you certain that she is such a good influence?" Kenji asked, focussed on the door behind Tsubame's shoulder. It lead to the garden courtyard, and was ever so slightly ajar.

"Oh, well, that's because there weren't any other clothes she could wear on such short notice. It's important for girls to know how to defend themselves – look at Kaoru-san, living all alone in that dojo for months before Kenshin-san arrived – that's why we let Shinko continue her kenjutsu for so long, but Natsuko doesn't focus entirely on fighting, she knows how to cook, clean, she is even a talented young artist, and Misao says that she's a keen learner too..."

"And pretty." Shinya muttered. "Did you see her–?"

"Not letting Shinko-san train in Kenjutsu would have been a tragedy to everyone who's ever lifted a sword. She has talent, and an artistic approach to kenjutsu that is very rare." Kenji interrupted Shinya, leaning forward onto the balls of his feet, his dark blue eyes intense. "She can learn just by watching – like Yahiko-sensei – and is innovative, analysing the situation before fighting strategically. You should have seen her this afternoon. She may not be particularly strong, but..." Kenji broke off, shrugging and looking away, his face becoming impassive again. "There are more important things than cooking."

"You're a damn poet, you know that?" Shinya said, with a dark look at Kenji. "You sound like you think she's better than you."

"No, I don't. I am stronger, faster, and a better strategic thinker, as well as having a better grasp of the techniques of kenjutsu, _Hiten Mitsurugi ryu _and even _Kamiya Kasshin, _but she _is_ better than _you_, and when I fought her back in Tokyo, she held her own." Kenji said, bowing slightly to Shinya and his mother before walking towards the courtyard door. "I will see you at dinner."

"What, are you in love with my sister, Kenji-kun?" Shinya demanded as Kenji placed his hand on the thin rice paper of the door. The red-haired warrior froze, not looking around.

"I value Shinko as a friend and a warrior... and a person." He said quietly, sliding the door open.

Shinko was sitting listlessly under one of the trees by the small deck when Kenji came out. There were dirt-stains on her bandaged hand and knees, and she was balancing a bokken on one finger, watching it seesaw back and forth as she rolled her wrist.

"Listening at doors is a bad habit, you know." Kenji murmured, coming to squat under the tree with Shinko.

*

**NB about Misao's talents: **Misao knows Aikido, a type of self-defense, Karate, which everyone knows about, jujutsu, which turns the opponents force against them, useful for small people, and ninjutsu, which is necessary for any ninja, or onmitsu/shinobi/kunoichi... obviously. All of these martial arts (as well as any other martial arts) are known as Budo, Bujutsu or Bugei.

Other than that... this chapter isn't that good. Sorry.

*


	13. Chapter 13

Ahem... about those weekly updates... not gonna happen, I'm afraid... I might try for fortnightly... or at least better than monthly... sorry Caseyedith...

Chapter thirteen

"What do you think of Natsuko-san, Kenji?" Shinko asked, looking up from the bokken and leaning back against the trees.

"Wealthy probably. Few friends, and prefers the company of males to females – since she knows that her looks will affect them. Wants to learn judo as a conversation piece, most likely, and has never been willing to fight for the right to study it. On the whole, I would judge Natsuko-san to be a rather shallow young woman who only really knows about sheltered privileges." Kenji counted the traits off on his fingers, not looking directly at Shinko. "She's fairly boring on the whole; and desperate to fit in." He stood up, holding out a hand to Shinko, and picking up one of the spare bokken on the ground under the tree.

"I still owe you the rematch, don't I?" Shinko asked, accepting the hand.

"Not today, Shinko-san, I haven't had a chance to duel anyone worthwhile today – I haven't had a chance to warm up, even – so simply training." Kenji said with a smile that held a flicker of warmth, and even a hint of playfulness – so completely at odds with his usual demeanour, that Shinko was left slightly off-balance.

"So a full-out match then, just like last time?" Shinko asked, grinning herself, ignoring the sound of Tsubame and Shinya talking to Natsuko inside.

"Is there any other way to train?"

"Most people do drills." Shinko replied wryly.

"Useless, _ne_?" Kenji said, waiting for a full heartbeat of silence before he met Shinko's warm, dark amber eyes and charged.

This time, the bout was less graceful, both fighters moving slightly slower than usual, Shinko trying to prevent the scabs on her palm from cracking, as well as nursing her twisted ankle, while Kenji's rib was still half-healed.

"What happened?" She asked as she dodged back an inch or two to avoid a wide blow getting caught in her sleeve.

"I took a _ryukansen _to the side – Yahiko-sensei wanted to make a point."

"You fought _chichi_?"

"And lost." Kenji said, lunging forwards with a _gatotsu_-like thrust.

Shinko knocked the sword aside with her hand, before slashing at the target left exposed.

"I really need to get some sort of glove for my left hand." She muttered as Kenji followed his blade to the side, away from hers.

"If you're going to be travelling, you need a proper weapon." Kenji replied as the volley of attacks increased in pace and ferocity, but the blades still cracked against each other, rather than softer targets.

"I'm not sure if I should try and find a _sakabato_ or not. After all, that's your birthright, and Kenshin-san's... it represents his truth."

"You can't have a real sword – they've been banned for more than twenty years."

"True, but a _sakabato_'s not much better." Shinko said, wincing as Kenji's bokken thudded into the same area as Shinya's hit from before. She was beginning to empathise with his cracked rib, even if she was beginning to feel vastly less concerned over her family's adoring opinion of Natsuko.

"Mm, and a _sakabato _can be turned to cut, just as a katana can be turned to bruise..." Kenji said, as they launched into another exchange. Suddenly, his eyes widened as Shinko managed to somehow get under his guard, her bokken thudding into his stomach and pushing the air out his lungs.

"How did that hit?" Shinko asked, backing off, eyes wide and slightly worried.

"It was faster than I'd anticipated," Kenji muttered, rubbing his stomach and chewing slightly on the inside of his cheek in irritation.

"Oh, um... _gomenasai..._"

"Not your fault." He snapped, feeling irritation surge through him. He _should _have blocked that one...

"Kenji-kun, Shinko-chan!" Misao poked her head out of the door – it was probable that if she had learnt her cooking from Kaoru, Kaoru had learnt her timing from Misao's oniwabanshu-honed instincts. "Dinner time! Come see Natsuko-chan's _okonomiyaki_." She beckoned the two in, before vanishing into the next room, leaving the rice-paper screen slightly ajar.

"That was a good hit, Shinko-san." Kenji said, leaning the borrowed bokken against the tree and swallowing his pride.

"Thanks..." She grinned with embarrassed pleasure at the compliment, but didn't say anything about Kenji's half of the duel – something that the red-haired young man was grateful for, since he knew that he hadn't fought as well as he should of, and so any compliments would be false or pitying.

"It will be interesting to watch you fight Yahiko-sensei." He said quietly, too quietly for Shinko to hear, as they went into the house.

*

Three days later, still slightly sore from the bruises of her week of intensive Kenjutsu boot camp, Shinko was stretching in the courtyard of the Aoi-ya, under a spreading Chinese maple tree, Yahiko across from her, doing likewise, the Sakabato at his hip seeming bigger and blacker, and on the whole more dangerous than it ever had previously.

"Good luck Shinko," Shinya called from his seat on the wooden veranda at the edge of the courtyard. "Try not to embarrass yourself too much!"

"Shut up, _baka!"_

_"Imoto_!" he called back good naturedly, leaning back against one of the thick, dark wood beams that supported the second floor. Kenji was standing silently beside him, shaded by the eaves of the inn.

Shino went back to her stretches, feeling slightly less nervous as she watched her father, assessing what she knew about him as a warrior – he used _miyoumimane _(homage strike) Hiten Mitsurugi ryu – but mostly only _ryutsuisen _and _ryukansen, _Kenshin's favoured technique. He was a master of _Kamiya Kasshin, _and had added several of his own techniques to the style since he had taken over the training of students from Kaoru. That was the most dangerous, since he was able to block any attack that came at him, no matter how, and counter-attack with the deadly _Hiten Mitsurugi ryu_ – essentially what Kenji, Shinya and herself had been aiming at. He wasn't too fast, but every move he made was filled with strength and passion, and a fierce protectiveness born from growing to manhood fighting to defend the ones he loved.

"Okay, Shinko, are you ready?"

"No," Shinko said with a nervous laugh, Closing her eyes for a moment, and shaking out her arms. "Kenji-san said you cracked his rib." She said, as she weighed her trhee bokken, selecting the least battered one, and leaning the rest against the Chinese maple.

"...I slightly underestimated the momentum of the lighter sword..." Yahiko murmured, sounding ever so slightly sheepish.

"Oh... do you want to borrow a bokken?" Shinko asked, opening her eyes with a grin, looking instantly calmer.

"No thank you," Yahiko said with a glance as Tsubame came out from inside the Aoi-ya and knelt next to Shinya on the veranda. "You need to prove to Tsubame-chan that you will be okay against even the most dangerous attacks, and a steel sword is slightly heavier – and slower. Shinya – call the start."

Shinya nodded, looking from his sister to father with a nervous look – like he sensed that no matter what happened today, there would be a fundamental shift in the dynamics of their life as a family.

"Begin."

*

Shinko darted back, getting as far away from Yahiko as she could, managing to dodge the _sakabato _by a hair, and the heavy black scabbard came round in _Souryusen_, just missed her as she rolled forwards and around, trying to stay as far away as she could, while she tried to think of some way to get past the impeccable defences of _Kamiya Kasshin_. She came to her feet, twisting back to face Yahiko as he slashed down at her, catching the blade on her yukata. Shinko swore, backing off again and circling. She needed a distraction, or else she would have no hope of lasting another minute.

"_Doryusen..." _Shinya murmured from where he was watching, eyes wide. Shinko blinked, and drew her shinai across the ground, raising the faintest cloud of summer dust. Yahiko used the moment where she was undefended to spring forwards, bringing his sakabato down from above, as Shinko thrust her sword into the ground, raising a cloud of dust and pushing herself away, the blade scraping along the back of her hand, and nearly making her drop her bokken. She darted back again, feeling completely overwhelmed.

"I won't win." She murmured, as she darted back towards he mother. "I could get away, but that's not the point of a _genpuku, _is it?"

"Concentrate, Shinko." Kenji murmured, spurring Shinko to duck down, just as Yahiko's blade came slicing towards her shoulder.

She brought the sword up from under, mimicking the move Shinya had tried against her the other day, and Yahiko blocked it with the hilt of the Sakabato before thrusting forwards. She ducked back again, but felt the point catch against her shoulder, the sharp underside opening a tiny, but stinging cut as she darted away again. The duel continued, Shinko breaking away from engagement, again and again, trying to find some advantage.

*

Yahiko felt some tiny part of his mind watch in detached surprise as Shinko dodged his attacks again and again, the style she used was almost completely different to Shinya or Kenji – in the last few years, as she'd watched the fighters training in dozens of dojo across Tokyo and Kyoto, she'd developed a mish-mashed milieu of all of them as her own. It was unpredictable, and let her keep him just enough off balance to dodge. She was completely different to Kenji. If he had used any style other than Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu, he would have probably managed to defeat Yahiko, but since he fought in such a difficult style, which the older man was more experienced in, he had played himself at a disadvantage, compounded by his arrogance – but even then, he'd just managed a hit that had bruised, even if Yahiko hadn't let that on to the red-haired boy. Shinko, without the same innate genius, had created a stylistic advantage for herself that even the most knowledgeable of masters would be hard pressed to analyse.

His body fought instinctively, knowing what to do better than his mind did, following Shinko as she dodged back towards the tree again, ducking low under his attack. He parried the first serious attack Shinko had managed to launch. It's ferocity and recklessness surprised him, as she spun towards him. He counterattacked with a quick flick of his blade, striking Shinko across her right shoulder as her body turned square to him. She dropped the bokken from numb fingers, just as her left arm came round, holding a second bokken and landing against his arm with a muted thump, as he barely managed to cushion the impact.

Shinko dropped to her knees in front of Yahiko, sweat dripping from her body and her wild spiky mane hanging lank to her shoulders, as she cradled her shoulder, her second weapon clacking on top of the first.

The courtyard radiated with silence, except for the panting of the two fighters.

"Well done, Shinko," Yahiko said, reaching down with his left hand as he sheathed the sakabato. Shinko smiled slightly, pale with pain as her father helped her up.

"She fights like an _onmitsu_." Aoshi said, emerging from just around a corner. "Resourceful, unpredictable, and not entirely fair."

"What _was _that?" Shinya asked, staring at his sister as if she had sprouted a new head. "There was... Kenji?"

"I'd call that Shinko-ryu – or possibly _Myojin miyoumimane-ryu._" Kenji said, jealousy and frustration warring with amazement. "Your family seems to have a talent for learning by sight. I wonder if you inherited it." The red-haired warrior stepped away from the veranda, walking over towards Shinko, and ignoring Shinya's protests. He stopped abruptly as Shinko pulled the yukata off her shoulder to examine the red bruise appearing on her shoulder.

"My hand feels all tingly." She muttered. Her fingers twitching slightly.

"How did you get your hands on the second bokken, Shinko-chan?" Misao asked, slipping her hand into Aoshi's. "I missed it."

"As I dodged towards the tree, I twisted away, and grabbed one. I kept it hidden behind my body and attacked straight away."

"_Soryusen._" Yahiko nodded with approval. "And cheating."

"Well, it wasn't really a _genpuku_, so much as a full out fight to first blood. I think Shinko-shan was justified in using everything at her disposal." Misao said, poking her tongue out at Yahiko.

"Shinko does that. It's not fair." Shinya muttered, as he came up to Shinko too, giving her a tight, fiercely proud hug, and wincing slightly as she gasped and pulled away, gripping her shoulder. "_Gomen_."

"It's fine. Make sure you don't get humiliated in comparison to a _girl._" She said with a grin.

"No way you're a girl, Shinko – girl's look like Natsuko, not planks."

"Do you want me to prove you wrong?" Shinko asked threateningly, gripping the edge of her yukata where it hung over her shoulder, the bandages wrapped around her chest to preserve her modesty already rather exposed.

"No way. You're not my type – or anyone's type."

"I'm your _sister_, of course I'm not you're type."

"You're a cross-dressing tomboy with no figure, who's type is that?"

"Shinya!" Yahiko snapped warningly as Shinko opened her mouth, trying to find a reply.

Shinya shrugged, sulkily, and stopped talking.

"Shinko..." Tsubame said quietly, coming towards the group.

"_Haha_?"

"...You..." She broke off, looking away. "...We can't make you stay." She said quietly.

*


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter fourteen

Shinko stood at the platform, farewelling her parents and brother as they boarded the morning train to Tokyo. The station was busy with people farewelling loved ones, or moving up and down the train waiting for their turn to board in excitement.

"Say hi to Kenshin-san and Kaoru-san for me!" She called to her father as he wrestled with the luggage, squirming away from her mother's embrace with an embarrassed grimace.

"Bye, Shinko." Shinya said quietly, inserting himself between Shinko and their mother, as soon as his sister managed to escape. "I'll..."

"Not even bother giving me a half-decent goodbye? Typical." Shinko laughed slightly, before enveloping her brother in a tight hug. "I'll miss you..."

"You too, Shinko," He muttered in her ear, a blush creeping up his cheeks as he hugged her back – he was much too tough for this kind of thing, and people were beginning to stare and mutter at the scandalous public display.

"I know, you big sissy... Here then, have this to remind you of me – it's a piece of gravel the doctor picked out of my palm." Shinko dropped a teardrop sized chunk of mica into Shinya's palm, the flecks of quartz and pyrite glinting where they weren't rusty with blood.

"You have no taste in interesting rocks," Shinya said, regarding the stone with a tinge of horror. "And why were you carrying it with you?"

"It's a memento of my exploits. I was keeping it in my shinai bag, but I thought you might like it because it's kind of glittery, and pinkish." Shinko said cheerily.

"That's because it's got blood on it." Shinya said, scraping a fleck of dried blood off the pebble.

"Well, it'll remind you even more of me then won't it?" Shinko said, poking her tongue out at Shinya and lifting up several of her mother's bags. "Now, which carriage are you in, _haha_?" Shinya shook his head at his sister's antics, catching Yahiko's eye, and sharing a look as the train whistled in preparation for leaving.

"Good luck with your training back in Tokyo." Shinya snapped his head around so fast it almost cricked as he heard Kenji's voice from a few feet away. He'd come to the train station, at Shinko's urging, but had vanished as soon as polite, allowing them to finish their goodbyes in relative privacy.

"I'm still going after the _sakabato, _you know."

"I know." Kenji smiled, but the expression had little warmth in it, simply a polite expression to make with a mouth that wasn't talking, but at least it wasn't thinly veiled contempt anymore.

"Well, good luck with your training too then. And I want a rematch when I come back. I'll be better than you then."

"I doubt that." Kenji said, bowing slightly in farewell as Shinya boarded the train, mimicking the gesture.

"Ja, Kenji-san."

"Bye again!" Shinko called, jumping off the train and waving vigorously as the doors closed, and the train pulled away in a screaming cloud of steam.

"Okay, I'm off too then!" Shinko said, laughing, and turning to Kenji.

"Your bag, Shinko-dono." Kenji said, adding the very formal suffix with a faint smile and a bow.

"Don't." Shinko said, with an embarrassed shrug – the only person she knew who used –dono on a regular basis was Kenshin, usually when talking to Kaoru.

"So, where are you going?" Kenji asked, handing Shinko her pair of bokken, and a small purse that jingled expensively.

"South-west I think... Kyushu ****perhaps. I always wanted to visit one of the other main islands..."

"What a long way... When will you be coming back?" Kenji asked, as Shinko slipped the purse into her gi, and tucked the bokken into her waistband.

"Don't know... will you miss me?" Shinko said mischievously.

"I shall." Kenji said quietly, shrugging but meeting Shinko's eyes calmly.

"... I'll miss you too I guess..." Shinko said, looking away and blushing.

"Ja matte." Kenji said, bowing more formally.

"Ja ne." Shinko said, bowing back, and began to walk down the station. She paused after a moment, running back to Kenji and stopping a foot in front of him, looking as if she wanted to hug him as well.

"Nani?"

"Uh... take care of yourself, okay Kenji...san?" She muttered, adding the suffix almost as an afterthought.

"You too, Shinko-san." Shinko grinned, and bowed another farewell, before turning and leaving, not looking back this time until she was well out of eyeshot.

"Shinko-san!" She blinked and looked around, hearing Natsuko's voice, almost unrecognisable with sobbing terror.

Tugging one of the bokken from her waistband, Shinko ran down the nearest side alley, following the sound of Natsuko's voice. She'd been at the _Aoi-ya _early that morning, saying a blushing goodbye to Shinya under the pretence of coming for an early training session with Misao. It had been revolting.

"_Help!_"

"Natsuko-chan?" Shinko rounded the corner, seeing Natsuko struggling against the grip of a wiry Japanese man clad in loose, dirty Western clothes. He had a sharp _wakizashi _held against her throat.

"Get off me you brute!" Natsuko cried, her struggles increasing as she saw Shinko.

"Please, do not approach any closer, Shinko-san." The wiry man said calmly, holding Natsuko easily, and training a gun on Shinko from under her arm. "I wouldn't wish to have to harm you."

"What do you want with her?" Shinko demanded, holding her bokken ready, her eyes flicking around the alley, searching for any sign of movement that could indicate backup.

"Nothing, Shinko-san. Tanuki-sama wants nothing from this girl, he simply wanted to use her to get to you." The man smiled, clutching Natsuko tighter as Shinko twitched back in surprise. "My name is Toranaga-des, and if you want to fetch back this girl, you can meet me at the _Ume-no-nemu-ya_, by the docks this evening."

"_Ume-no nemu-ya_? I... I _went _there!" Shinko said, her eyes wide as she remembered the dingy little dockside tavern she had spent the night, only a week ago.

"Yes. Isn't coincidence a strange thing?" Toranaga said with a smile. "Now I must be going."

"Wait-"

"Let me go!" Natsuko screamed, struggling again.

"Quiet." Toranaga said, slapping Natsuko across the face with the back of the hand holding his gun. Her head snapped back, and a sob of pain escaped her, as blood began to trickled from the corner of her mouth where her teeth had ripped the flesh of her cheek.

"Shinko..."

"Please step aside." Toranaga said, training the gun back on the fifteen-year-old girl. She stood frozen. She could have attacked when Toranaga had slapped Natsuko, the moment he was distracted, and had loosened the pressure of the blade at the older girl's neck, but...

_This man is truly cruel..._

"Goodbye." The wiry little man left, Shinko watching him with stunned eyes.

"Misao-san! Get me a pigeon! I need to contact Shinya!" Shinko ran into the dojo, barely pausing to kick of her dusty sandals.

"What happened? You're still here?" Misao caught the girl by her shoulders, forcing her to calm down.

"Some-one kidnapped Natsuko-chan." Shinko said, taking a deep breath.

"Eh?!" Misao let her hands fall to her sides in surprise. "_Nani_?"

"Tell Shinya." Shinko said harshly. "And do you have anything heavier than a bokken?"

"How long do you have? Misao asked, grabbing a sheet of rice paper, and hastily writing four words on it. _Natsuko kidnapped, come back_.

"Yuki-chan!" Misao shouted, and moments later her daughter came running.

"See if you can write Shinya-kun's name on this, carefully, once it's dried, and then give it to Hachi-chan to take, _wakata_?" Misao said, handing her daughter the folded sheet.

"_Hai!_" Yuki took the letter solemnly, bowing to her mother.

"Good girl. Now come with me, Shinko-chan. We'll find you something with a bit more weight." Misao smiled grimly and left the _Aoi-ya_, Shinko following close behind.

"Kaname-san, you still make ornamental swords, ne?" Misao said cheerfully to a middle-aged, burly man with ruddy cheeks. Who was leaning on the counter of a small, well-furnished shop.

"_Hai_, Misao-dono, why?" Kaname asked in mild surprised. "Although you know that 'ornamental' hardly does them justice."

"I know you were one of the best smiths in Kyoto before the ban, and still have craftsmanship even in blades that aren't made for killing." Misao said with a smile and a slight, respectful bow.

"My blades would still take a fine edge if one were to sharpen them."

"Good. I need one. Quite light, not too long. Shinko, go pick." Misao gestured to the racks of katana and wakizashi on display around Kaname's shop.

"You want a blade for the girl? Why?"

"For strictly non-violent purposes, _ne?_" Misao said with a wink.

"For you, _jou-san_, try these ones. It would be best if I could make it to measure, but here." He handed her a blade that was perhaps half a centimetre longer than a bokken, with gold and black binding about the hilt, and a black-lacquer scabbard resting below it on the stand. The blade had the faint rippling of masterfully crafted steel.

"It's heavy." Shinko said in surprise, hefting the blade. Her father had always wielded the _sakabato_, which was significantly larger and heavier-looking, as if it were as light as a feather.

"Swing it. Does the balance feel right?" Kaname asked, inspecting her with a professional eye. "You have an unusual stance. What style do you use?"

"Um... I sort of mix-and-match..." Shinko said blushing. "But mainly it's a combination of _kamiya kasshin _and _Hiten... Himura-ryu_." Shinko stopped herself just in time – _hiten Mitsurugi-ryu _had a significant reputation even now, not always good. She smiled at the weight of the blade in her hand. Even though, it was heavier than a bokken, as she swung it, she knew she would be able to use it – it was much lighter than the _sakabato _had been. Still, she hoped that if she had to fight at the _Ume-no-Nemu-ya_ – not much of an 'if' really – she would be able to finish it fast.

"Never heard of either of them." Kaname said dismissively.

"Is that one suitable?" Misao asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, um how much...?"

"_Dozo_, Kaname-san." Misao said, handing him a heavy purse. "Nice to have a chance to do legitimate business with you." Kaname laughed, as the two women left the shop.

"How do you know him?" Shinko asked, hefting the blade and tying its scabbard to her waist with the handy tasselled string, thanking the petite kunoichi.

"Since none of the Shakku line still make weapons, Aoishi-sama has been going to Kaname-san for years whenever he needed his kodachi repaired," Misao said, smiling. "So, do you want me to come with you, or is this a matter you have to settle by yourself?" She nodded before Shinko had time to fumble for an answer. "Well, Good luck then."

"Thank you, Misao-san." Shinko said smiling before wandering off through the streets. It was still hours before sunset, but she was too nervous to wait at the _Aoi-ya_. This wasn't like a training duel, or even fighting her father. Toranaga could, and would, kill her the instant it suited him, and against a gun, there wasn't much she could do about it.

"Shinko-san?"

"Ke-Kenji-san?" Shinko stopped in surprise, seeing the red-haired young man walking down the street towards her. It was late afternoon, and she had been about to turn back towards the docks, when she had heard his voice. The sword from Kaname-san was tucked into her Shinai bag after it had started drawing suspicious looks.

"You are still in Kyoto?" Kenji asked, stepping closer, his eyebrows drawing together as he noted her expression. "Why?"

"...Natsuko-chan is in trouble." Shinko said, looking away. With a jolt, she realised that she was close to Hakoshi's dojo, Kenji was probably on his way back to the _Aoi-ya_...

"Do you want help?"

"...I don't know..." Shinko said hesitantly. Kenji hadn't even asked what was wrong – Shinko wasn't sure if it was because he thought he knew approximately what kind of trouble, or if he would have offered his help to her no matter what she needed. Although it was amusing to imagine him offering to help if Natsuko had been in the kind of trouble that was generally associated with pretty seventeen-year-old girls...

"I could wait outside, in case something goes wrong?" Kenji offered, and Shinko smiled, nodding.

"_Domo_..." Shinko murmured, taking Kenji's hand and squeezing it as they began walking through Kyoto towards the docks together.

I'm so sorry!!! (Goes and mimes seppukku - if I actually did it then I'd cook for never getting all my stories finished. I HATE it when people do that...) Anyway, I was going to update a week ago but the internet died and I can't update at dad's, and so I stuck you all with a month-long update-wait again... I will try and put up another chapter at the end of the week though...

**About Tanuki **(the namesake of our currently elusive Tanuki-sama)**: **Most of you probably know this. Tanuki is a Japanese racoon(spirit?) (not necessarily like Kaoru though) and is generally considered a rather benign trickster that can change its shape, as well as being the mortal enemy of the Kitsune or fox (demon). They're a little more occult than your garden-variety fluffies though. But still cute.

Also, does anyone have any idea if I've mentioned a season? I think it seems to be late summer, but I could have mentioned something else...


	15. Chapter 15

Okay~! This is my apology for the long waits for recent chapters. I hope you enjoy - oh, and the swearwords later on are in Swedish, cos that's the only language I know how to swear in other than English or Japanese, which most people reading this would probably also know. If any of my readers _do _speak fluent Swedish, I know the grammar and spelling are probably wrong, and I apologise... /end note.

Chapter fifteen.

"Toranaga!" Shinko pushed the door open, holding her new 'ornamental' sword ready in a defensive, _Kamiya Kasshin _stance.

"No need to shout," the barkeep said reproachfully, cleaning a glass. "He's upstairs."

"Hey, it's washboard chest," muttered one of the sailors. Shinko wasn't sure which one it was, and if she hadn't been too preoccupied, she might have guessed it was Kimichi, who still had a bruise on his side from their encounter a week ago, and was sitting in a corner with his back against a wall.

"Shut up." Hissed another as Shinko marched up the stairs. The bar quickly fell quiet again, the sailors talking unusually quietly as they nursed their sake, and a shadow fell across the floor, through the uneven slats over one of the small windows, as Kenji took up his position outside.

Less than a minute later, he heard a scream coming from one of the rooms on the second storey. Without a second thought, he dashed in, drawing his bokken as he barrelled past the patrons of the bar and up the stairs, only to find his path blocked by a distraught Natsuko.

"H-he got Shinko-san!" She sobbed, grabbing Kenji's shirt in distress. Her hair was tangled, out of its neat bun, and there was a red welt on her cheek.

"Where?" The red-haired warrior demanded, grabbing Natsuko's arm and pulling her upstairs. She pointed to one of the rooms at the end of the short corridor, and Kenji slammed it open. The room was a mess, a cracked chair rested by the wall as if someone had fallen on it, and the window was open, letting a warm breeze into the room. Running to the window, Kenji saw a burly man with a slight figure with spiky black hair and a hakama draped over his shoulder like a sack vanishing around a street corner.

Swearing, Kenji jumped out of the window, landing on a pile of hay that had no logical reason to be there other than as a landing. He rolled to his feet, and set off in hot pursuit.

Shinya stared at the folded piece of paper, his face blank with shock.

"What does it say?" Yahiko asked, leaning over his son's shoulder. When Hachi, Misao and Aoshi's fastest Tokyo homing pigeon had arrive with a note signed for Shinya in Yuki's childish _hiragana_, even the interest of Kaoru's students had been piqued, and now they were all crowded around Shinya in the Dojo's training hall. The pigeon had arrived a few hours after its recipient, just before the last class of the day went home.

"...Someone has _kidnapped _Natsuko-san..."

"What?" Yahiko pulled the scrap of paper from Shinya's loose grip, staring at the four words written in Misao's hasty scrawl.

"Who's Natsuko?" Kaoru asked, leaning over her former students shoulder. "She sounds pretty."

"How can you tell that, _busu_?" Yahiko asked, looking up at the older woman.

"The look on Shinya-kun's face." Kaoru replied, knocking Yahiko on the back of the head in a habitual gesture. "And don't call me that – you must be a real _oni _for Shinko to have to run all the way to Kyoto to get away from your loud mouth.

"Hey!" Yahiko elbowed Kaoru in the stomach, but not with any real force behind it, before looking up for his son. "...Where did he go?"

"Shinya-kun already left." Ota said, nodding towards the door.

"He's as bad as his sister." Yahiko muttered, running out of the Dojo after his son. He found Shinya in his room, riffling through the cupboard where his futon was still neatly stored from before their trip – the only neat part of the room, as the fifteen-year-old flung clothes from the cupboard as he rooted around among his belongings, eventually emerging with a small, jingling pouch.

"Well, at least you're remembering to bring money, rather than selling your clothes..." Yahiko said conversationally as Shinya stood up, tying the pouch to his belt. "Do you also remember that there won't be another train to Kyoto till tomorrow?" He asked, resting a comforting hand on Shinya's shoulder and sitting him down on the tatami mats.

"But – I need to help Natsuko-san and Shinko." Shinya said, his hands twisting in his lap.

"Yes, but I'm sure they'll be fine until tomorrow. And take your shoes off before you damage the tatami." Yahiko gave Shinya's sandals a pointed look, sniffing in a manner that sounded almost exactly like Tsubame when she was annoyed, and one of her three 'mess-makers' had come home particularly dirty.

Shinya let out a wan chuckle, before drawing in a deep calming breath, his hands stilling in his lap. He was still tense, but the frantic edge had left his movements as he pulled his sandals off. Yahiko relaxed slightly as well, he wasn't sure that his only daughter would be fine until Shinya got there, but either way, he didn't want his son panicking and doing something stupid in the meanwhile.

"Pack some clothes, I'll call you for dinner, and get Tsubame to make you an _obento_." Yahiko said, standing up and patting his son on the head. "And get an early night," with that, the short dark-haired warrior, known as 'the one who caught a thousand blades', left his son's room, before going straight to the small pigeon coop behind the _Kamiya Kasshin _dojo.

Kenji's sandals pounded on the cobbled streets of Kyoto as he pursued the bulky man, with his limp bundle. He was faster, but his quarry had the advantage of knowing the streets, and a sizeable head start.

As the young warrior rounded the corner, he heard a creaking, and instinctively leapt back, reversing his direction with a skid that sent a small cloud of dust into the air. This was followed by a much larger one, and a crash as a litter – the kind a noble lady might be carried around in – was pushed off the roof of a nearby building. Blinking the dust out of his eyes, Kenji heard a faint sizzling noise coming from within the litter, as an acrid scent assaulted his nostrils. Horror knotted his stomach as he ducked into the nearest alley, moments before the large, carved wooden bomb exploded, spraying debris across the street, shredding the few paper screen doors and shattering woodwork.

Coughing, Kenji emerged from behind the house to inspect the wreckage, the thick, greasy smoke writhing around him staining his cheeks and clothes, and dulling his hair. There was no sign of anyone else on the street; whoever had abducted Shinko was long gone, in any of several directions. The redhead ground his teeth, resisting the urge to lash out at the already battered, and rickety buildings around him as he began to move back towards the _Umenonemu-ya_. He quickened his pace as he remembered leaving the distraught Natsuko there.

The young woman was waiting anxiously for him beside the haystack. She'd managed to re-pin her hair into a less disarrayed state, but she was still pale and sallow with tension and residual fear.

"Did you find – are you okay, Kenji-san?" She broke her original question off when she realised Kenji's soot-stained state.

"Fine." He muttered, walking down the street. "We should get you back to the _Aoi-ya_. You'll be safe there.

"What about Shinko-san?" Natsuko asked, following in the irritating mince of a woman in a kimono, her high wooden sandals clattering on the pavestones.

"...I lost her." Kenji said after a long pause.

"Oh no! What are we going to do – Toranaga-san is tough, I tried some of the tricks Misao showed me, but they didn't work..."

"What a surprise." Kenji muttered, already counting down the steps he estimated it would take to get back to the inn.

Shinya was waiting at the train station as the gleaming machine pulled in, fidgeting and shifting his weight form one foot to another. Yahiko and Tsubame were there to see him off, Tsubame slightly tearful at the thought of losing her son as well, as she fussed over him.

"_Haha_, the train's here – I have to go..." Shinya complained, pulling out of her grip feeling like a five-year-old.

"Be careful in Kyoto... And keep an eye on Shinko." Tsubame said, smiling damply and sniffing.

"I'm sure she can more than handle herself. She's the second generation _busu_, with new and improved kenjutsu." Shinya said laughing gruffly as he climbed onto the train, handing his ticket to the conductor at the door.

As soon as Shinya was out of sight of his parents, his nervous energy and false cheerfulness left him. He hadn't been able to sleep all night, tossing and turning on his futon until, as the faintest tinge of grey lightened the sky, he had gotten up, and spent the hours before dawn training behind the Akabeko.

As the train whistled out of the station a few minutes later, Shinya slumped further into his seat, staring out the window as he ran his hand across the smooth handle of his bokken, hoping that Natsuko, and Shinko were alright.

Shinko opened her eyes with a groan, her head felt foggy, and her mouth was dry and sandy as she sat up, shifting slightly as she felt something hard dig into her thigh.

"Where...?" She looked around, her eyes widening and her hand springing to her waist as she realised she was in an unfamiliar room and the memories of how she might have gotten here leapt back into her mind. There was only an empty lacquer sheath at her hip.

Toranaga had been in the first room at the top of the stairs, waiting for her at a small table when she'd opened the door. Natsuko hadn't been in there though, and then someone standing beside the door had grabbed her, and pressed some stinky piece of cloth against her face. She'd struggled, and remembered her hand connecting with flesh, but everything had started to blur... After that, all she could remember was darkness and a scream...

She sat bolt upright as the last memories slotted back into place. The action caused the room to blur and tilt dangerously around her. Clutching her head, Shinko took in a deep breath before letting out a torrent of swearwords in a constant, almost meditative, rant as she tried to think. Generally, she didn't indulge herself in the habits she picked up from uncle Sano, which also included drinking and gambling and street fighting and... well she'd never really found his lurid tales about brothels from around the world interesting, but, either way, being able to swear fluently in seven languages was a useful calming exercise.

"...Shittigt fan och helvete..." She finished, as the room's spinning abated as well. Slowly lifting her head from her hands, she managed to piece together what her room actually looked like – it was a small plain area with a sloping roof and bare wooden floors, only a tiny window with wooden shutters letting in light and a cold draught. Other than the futon she was sitting on, and a small, knee-high table with a small pitcher, there was a small cupboard, the door was slid partially open, to reveal an empty recess, with her bag sitting forlornly in a corner. At least they hadn't robbed her, she thought, gingerly standing up and tottering over to the door, which only served to confirm her suspicions – or near certainty – that she had fallen into Toranaga's trap. Unlike the rice paper screens that she was used to, This door was one of those odd westerns ones, which opened by turning a hook and pushing. Tsubame had always commented that these seemed rather silly, since it meant one couldn't put ornaments or tables against the wall there, or they'd be damaged.

"_Sumimasen?_ Is there anyone out there?" She called through the wood, trying to twist the handle, which was either jammed or locked, not really expecting an answer, since she couldn't hear breathing around the door. Sighing, Shinko fetched her bag and the pitcher off the table, sniffing it to make sure that the clear liquid in it was really water, before sitting down by the door to wait.

And also, I finally figured out how to make Word tell me how many words are in a sentence, so they shouldn't be TOO bad anymore....^_^

On another note, FF deleted all my breaks, somewhere between uploading and posting, so I've reposted the chapter with them in - if it deletes them AGAIN please tell me and I'll have to come up with something else....


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen:

"_Ohayo, _Yahiko-kun." Yahiko jerked in surprise as he heard Kenshin's voice from beside the door. He'd been pacing, back and forth through the dojo's training hall, waiting for the second class of students,which wasn't supposed to show up for another ten minutes – he'd been excused from teaching the first class, in order to see Shinya off on the train.

"Have you been taking lessons from Aoshi-san?" Yahiko asked wryly, as he made a conscious effort to stop his pacing and gave Kenshin what he hoped looked like a plausible smile.

"I don't think you were paying attention." Kenshin said returning Yahiko's grimace with a sincere smile as he entered the room, his gaze brushing over the long list of students that hung across a whole wall. "Remember when there was just you and Kaoru-dono on that wall?"

"A lot has changed since then..."

"Most of it good, this one must hope," Kenshin said with a sigh, before turning to Yahiko. "So, what is bothering you?"

Yahiko opened his mouth to speak, but broke off before he could say anything, his breath hissing out through his teeth as he started pacing again. Kenshin waited silently, his purple eyes impassive as they followed the younger man.

"Do you think I should have let Shinya go to Kyoto alone?" he burst out after a long moment, rounding on Kenshin. He didn't want to mention the insane urge he had had to jump on the back of the train as it left the station, and follow his children to whatever faced them in Kyoto.

"_Hai_. You cannot leave Tsubame-dono or the Akabeko so soon after returning," Kenshin said shrugging. "If you wish to be _rurouni_, like this one was, you should make sure you do not leave behind anyone who you care about, or else you may find that they follow you..."

"But they're fifteen!" Yahiko clenched his fists as he repeated Tsubame's argument.

"This one was _hitokiri _at fifteen... And you were 'the one who caught a thousand blades', Yahiko-kun. They have Aoshi-san and the _Oniwabanshu_ to watch them, they'll be fine."

"Misao let Shinko go adventuring with _Hiruma Gohei_."

"Oro? Wasn't that one...?"

"_Hai!_"

"...Well, was Shinko-dono harmed?"

"But-"

"This one thinks that you are worrying too much, Yahiko-kun. If you truly believed that they would not be able to handle what they find in Kyoto, then you would have gone with them. It is as simple as that," Kenshin smiled, bowing slightly to Yahiko. "Now this one must go and prepare Kaoru's bath, and your students are about to arrive." He slipped out of the dojo as quietly as he entered, just as Yahiko's first students came in.

*break*

Kenji had been awake for hours when Misao came out of her and Aoshi's room, holding a small pigeon and yawning. Stretching her free arm, she walked across the courtyard, running her fingers through her sleep tangled hair and waving at Kenji as she entered the large, open room where Aoshi was sipping green tea, and watching Kenji train.

"Yahiko-kun sent San-chan across last night, he must have done it almost as soon as Hachi-chan arrived... he's very worried, look, he even bothered to write neatly," she said to her husband, holding the bird out and showing him the note attached to its leg. "Shinya-kun is on his way, and that's it..."

Kenji froze, nearly tearing a muscle as he arrested his momentum in the middle of a lunge.

"Masaru still hasn't found where Shinko-kun is, there is not much point in her brother coming to save her." Aoshi said, blowing on his tea.

"I... well I think he might have come for Natsuko. No-one expected it to be a trap for Shinko-chan..."

"Why? I must have trained you poorly for the _Onmitsu_ if that is the case."

Misao jerked back as if she had been slapped, her back stiff. Kenji sighed slightly. Aoshi was still cold, after all these years. Kenshin had said that when he had lost Hannya, Beshimi, Shikijo and Hyottoko, something had broken inside him, and that it would never truly heal...

"I am _Oniwabanshu, _and I have been more loyal to our _onmitsu _and city than you," Misao spoke very calmly, but her back was ramrod-straight. "The reason no-one could expect a trap this well-laid out is because Shinko has done nothing to earn enmity from powerful circles, and because _we did not know of the existence of these people_. I thought that at best it was a petty yakuza boss who wanted revenge for her bashing up a few of his goons."

Aoshi regarded his wife for a moment, before standing up in a single fluid motion and wrapping his arms around her.

"_Gomene, _Misao," he murmured, dwarfing her as he ran a hand through her long hair. Embarrassed, Kenji turned away, moving to another part of his garden before continuing his training.

*break*

Shinko was famished when someone finally seemed to recall her presence in the attic room, and had absolutely exhausted any possible method of escape through the window onto the sloping roof below.

"Stupid shoulders..." She muttered for the fourth time as she pulled her head back inside – there was a nice view of the sunset-stained sky from her window, which meant she'd been in the small room for eight hours or so – just as a knock came on the door.

"_Sumimasen, _may I come in Shinko-dono? I have food for you." A soft feminine voice called through the door.

"Sure." Shinko murmured, pulling her gi off her shoulder to check the extent of the bruising suffered from trying to reshape her shoulders. The door clicked open and the servant walked in carrying a tray. Shinko's eyes widened as she took in the gi and hakama, thinking for a moment that it was another girl in boy's clothes, before she saw the long triangle of distinctly flat chest showing between the sides of the gi.

"Oh! Sorry, um..." Shinko blushed and stepped away, pulling up the collar of her own gi.

"Are you feeling well, Shinko-dono?" The androgynous young man asked, setting down a tray with an _obento_ on it_._

"Fine..." Shinko said suspiciously, scooting around the table so that she could grab the food without leaning past him. She was about to tuck in when he spoke again.

"Good, Toranaga-sama said that sometimes chloroform can cause a person's heart to stop, so I was worried about you..." The young man said, smiling coolly at Shinko. "Please, don't wait to eat on my account." He gestured to the chopsticks that Shinko was holding.

"_Itadakimas..._" Shinko muttered, before beginning to wolf down the bowl of rice.

"Ah, I forgot to introduce myself; I am Kano Kiyoshi." The man bowed. Shinko noted with a start as he straightened again that his eyes were a pale liquid colour, somewhere between blue and grey.

"Myojin Shinko." Shinko muttered between mouthfuls.

"Ah! Like the mountain?"

"Mountain?"

"Mm, I am from Osaka. Myojin-yama is nearby, my grandfather was a monk, and he lived there." Kiyoshi said, his distant smile becoming slightly warmer as he sat down across from Shinko.

"Really? You're from Osaka?" Shinko asked, unable to hide her surprise. "I didn't notice your accent..."

"_Nandeyanen_." Kiyoshi drawled, slouching back into a more relaxed pose. Shinko felt a slight giggle escape her mouth at the sound of the nasal merchant's drawl coming from the mouth of someone who could easily have been taken for one of Kyoto's most sophisticated artisans.

"_Gome_." She stopped herself, covering her mouth as Kiyoshi raised an eyebrow at her, but the young man just smiled and shrugged, and Shinko felt a smile tug at the corners of her mouth again.

"I am glad I could make you laugh, Shinko-dono, you must be dreadfully frustrated; you have no idea where you are or why." Kiyoshi let out a rueful laugh. "And I'm afraid Toranaga-sama will not let me tell you..."

"Why?" Shinko demanded, the amused smile fading from her features.

"I am not certain. I believe it may be because Toranaga-sama himself has been commanded not to by Tanuki-sama."

"Who _is _Tanuki-sama?"

"The person who decided you should be here." Kiyoshi said noncommittally. "I'm afraid I must go, Shinko-dono, I have other things to do." He stood up, his smile becoming cool again as he left the room, locking the door behind him. Shinko watched the door disbelief etched on her features. He'd seemed so _nice_, but he'd locked her in again, just like that...

She screamed in frustration and flung her empty rice bowl against the door, where it shattered.

*break*

When Shinya got to the train station Kenji was waiting for him, grim-eyed and standing absolutely still as he let the burgeoning crowds swirl around him. The younger boy felt his own body tense in response – something was very wrong.

"What happened?"

"They didn't want Natsuko-san – she's safe at the _Aoi-ya._" Kenji said calmly, turning on his heel and walking away from the train station, Shinya hurrying behind with his single bag of luggage.

"That's good, _ne? Ne?_" Shinya asked, feeling his throat go dry as Kenji continued walking for along moment without saying anything.

"In a way, but Natsuko-san was bait; and now Shinko has been kidnapped instead." Kenji said flatly.

"_NANI?" _Shinya demanded, grabbing Kenji's collar and pulling him around so that he could yell in the redhead's face. "You let some slimy _bastard _kidnap my _sister_?"

"I assure you it wasn't intentional," Kenji said coldly, staring over Shinya's shoulder. "If I'd known, I would have let them have Natsuko-san."

Shinya's face went very red as he bared his teeth, trying to find some way to express his revulsion at Kenji's callous cold-bloodedness.

"Let go." Kenji said, his voice as soft as poison as he gripped Shinya's wrist, pulling out of the dark-haired boy's grip. "The _Onmitsu _is looking for her, and when they find her, I will take her back, and kill whoever _dared _take on her." Shinya's eyes widened, and after a moment, the anger in his face subsiding into pain and desolation.

"What if they hurt her?" He asked quietly, more to himself as Kenji's blue eyes darkened like storm clouds. The dark-haired boy looked around the streets of Kyoto, feeling lost. It seemed that Shinko was getting further and further away from him, and the days when they'd run through Tokyo with her in nothing but underpants together. He'd been worried when she'd vanished off to Tokyo; felt that a vital part of his world was missing, even though she'd only been gone for a week before Misao had sent a pigeon. Now she was _lost_, and possibly hurt, and he didn't know what to do.

*break*

"Masaru's back!" Yuki shouted running into the room. "Said he found something!" Everyone looked up, training their attention on the girl, and the young man who entered behind her.

Masaru was a completely unremarkable looking young man, unless someone took the time to study the expression in his eyes. He was seventeen, and his eyes gleamed with an unreadable, but perturbing expression as he bowed respectfully to Aoshi, his eyes sweeping over the room, noting Misao, Kenji and Shinya with mild disinterest. His eyes narrowed as he saw Natsuko, sitting beside Shinya, her eyes red and puffy from crying.

"Who's that?" He asked brusquely, folding his arms, a gesture which caused Misao to tense slightly.

"Natsuko, she's a friend of Shinko's and Shinya's. She was the one who 'Toranaga' originally kidnapped." The dark-haired woman explained quickly. Masaru studied her for a moment longer before letting his hands fall back to his sides with an unconvinced grunt.

"Fine. She can stay then." Masaru said after a moment, as he turned and shooed a protesting Yuki out of the room.

"What did you find out, Masaru-san?" Kenji asked insistently from the corner as soon as the door shut behind the girl.

"That Toranaga is a new face. He's Japanese, but the rumour is he lived somewhere else for several years, probably due to a police investigation into illegal weapons or something of the sort. He showed up a few weeks ago on a privately owned ship, which he sold immediately, no records of the transaction. Some people are saying he was the manager of a criminal gang that does most of its business internationally, and was called home to report, or be punished. Others think he managed to set himself up in a more local organisation."

"What organisation?" Aoshi demanded his voice tight.

"No-one knows. Whoever they are, they've managed to stay completely undetected by the _oniwabanshu_." Masaru said flatly.

"We've gotten soft," Aoshi hissed, standing up. Misao came to stand behind him, resting one of her small hands on his arm. "And we will be coming with you to find Shinko, where is she?"

"I haven't got her pinpointed, yet, but I will by tomorrow evening." Masaru bowed again and turned to leave, Natsuko rising to her feet in a single fluid motion, following him out with delicate steps.

"Will you really be able to find Shinko-chan, Masaru-san?" She asked hopefully as he went through the door. Shinya didn't even notice her leave, his eyes were locked with Kenji's, and for once, they were in perfect agreement.

_One day is too long._

*break*

**NB: Kiyoshi:** Japanese people can very occasionally have blue eyes – not sure why, but I did meet a Japanese girl with blue eyes once (A really, really dark blue, almost black, kinda midnight-coloured, SO cool, and there was Sayuri from _Memoirs of a Geisha_). Also, Kiyoshi's from Osaka, because there IS a mount Myojin near there, which I thought was cool, and wanted to mention. I did some research into the 'Kansai dialect' or Osaka-ben, and nandeyanen is, I believe, a fairly indicative word of this dialect – means 'you've got to be kidding' when I looked it up. However, Kiyoshi doesn't speak in the Japanese equivalent of Texan, because a) most Japanese people tend to use the more standard Japanese, and that is what is taught in schools and b) he just isn't that type of guy. He's one of the trademark RK girly-men (From Kamatari to Kenshin himself, passing by Seta in the middle). You've just gotta love 'em... :)

Author's Note: I know I'm probably bragging, but I just got an award in a short story competition! It wasn't very big, and I didn't actually _win _but I am still very excited, and telling everyone I know. Or don't know... pretty much just everyone.


	17. Chapter 17

I'm back! With many apologies - I've been sick, flu or something fever headaches cough etc., but I still should have updated weeks ago. Anyway, here is chapter seventeen, enjoy.

Chapter Seventeen:

Shinko stared at the now rather battered window frame, thinking. If she could just get _out_, then she'd be able to find her sword, and her way home. She should have attacked Kiyoshi when he'd come with her dinner, but... he'd managed to take her off balance, and keep her calm until he left. Either he wasn't a threat, in which case it would have been mean to attack some poor servant man, or he was _very _clever. No matter what, though, there were probably guards and stuff or something outside.

"So, I can't smash you up with a broken bowl, or pry you loose with chopsticks, and I've broken all of my dinner things." She murmured to the window, thinking. It was just slightly too small, if she could just get the frame off... Shinko paced back to the door, studying the metal handle. If she could get her hands on _that_... Shinko changed her mind suddenly as inspiration struck her.

She picked up a fragment of one of her chopsticks – the end was snapped into a wide, thin splinter. Carefully she inserted it into one of the two small knobs on the handle, which had crosses inscribed on them. Misao had told her about Hyotokko's lock picking and other shady skills, as well as the rest of the oniwabanshu, whenever she thought Aoshi wasn't listening, and this seemed as good a time as any to test the theory she had learned – after all, Kenji had learned _Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu _from stories, lock picking couldn't be half as hard.

The knob jiggled slightly as she twisted it to the left. Encouraged, Shinko continued to turn her improvised lock pick, until the knob came loose in her hand. It was attached to a small, pointed piece of metal with a ridge spiralling down it.

"_Nani?_" Shinko studied the screw, before turning back to the door, jiggling the handle. Instead of turning, the handle slid right away, exposing a small hole in the door with tightly packed and complicated clockwork. Shinko prodded it cautiously with her screw, trying to jiggle some of the pieces like Misao had described. Of course, the kunoichi had never mentioned lock picking to be done like this, but there was a first time for everything.

After a few minutes of delicacy, Shinko became bored, and picked up one of the bowl fragments, careful not to let it cut her fingers, and used it to bash at the clockwork. After a few more moments, something gave way and the clockwork crunched, letting Shinko pull the tiny pieces out. When there was nothing left inside the small hollow under the handle but a metal plate with a small hole in it on the other side of the door – that was probably the keyhole, Shinko figured; there hadn't been one on her side of the door.

She let the door handle slide back into place and gathered up the tiny pieces, before she turned the handle. The door swung open easily, beautifully, and Myojin Shinko was free.

Resisting the urge to laugh with giddy joy, she peered down the corridor. To her left it ended just beyond her door, with another window, this one covered in a rice paper screen painted with a dragon pattern. A small vase with a sprig of yellowing leaves rested on a table under the window. At the other end was a set of stairs running down, with a tall, dark-skinned guard waiting. Shinko hissed in surprise. She'd never seen one of the _Afurica-jin_ before, but she'd heard that they lived in deserts where it was always hot, never rained, and they _all _knew how to fight. She wasn't sure if she was pleased or disappointed at that as she snuck up behind him – she wished they could have met on friendlier terms.

The man heard the scrape of her bare feet about a metre away, and spun, drawing out a Japanese-style sword that he held with skill if not familiarity. If there had been time, Shinko would have sworn, but as it was, she barely had time to duck the blade as it hissed towards her head.

*break*

"Masaru-san!" the young man looked up, seeing Kenji and Shinya approach him as he tied his sandals back on.

"We want to find Shinko as soon as possible; if there's anything that we can do to help you find her..." Shinya trailed off, his jaw set, as Kenji watched the slightly younger man with steely eyes.

"What do you know?" He asked quietly. Masaru raised his eyebrows, blinking.

"I am _oniwabanshu_, I report to Aoshi-sama, not you."

"Well that's too bad, because you _will _tell us what you know."

"Or, as the English say, Else." Shinya added, trying to look menacing.

"Fine. There are two large houses bought in shady areas of Kyoto since Toranaga's ship came in. You two can check one if you want to play the hero, while I check the other. If you find it, then come back here and report. We'll meet at dawn." Masaru handed Kenji a slip of paper, before walking away into the evening.

"He doesn't really believe that we'd waste time coming back to fetch everyone if we found her?" Shinya asked as he peered at the address over Kenji's shoulder.

"No, he doesn't. Let's go."

"I don't get you quiet types." Shinya muttered, following Kenji out of the yard, tightening his hold on the bokken at his waist.

*break*

Shinko ducked under the blade, running back along the corridor as the guard followed. She dodged the deadly blade again, grabbing the lacquer sheath at her waist and lunging. The end of it stopped more than an inch short of her target before the guards blade thudded into it, cracking the sheath and pulling it's slippery surface out of her grasp as the guard recovered. Shinko backed up another step, looking desperately for something else to use to defend herself. The sword swung down again as she reached the end of the corridor.

Twisting, she brought her hands up to block it, the blade slicing into her left arm as she missed it. She screamed in an automatic response, but the pain didn't start yet, and her body didn't stop as her right fist slid forwards along the back of the blade. If the dark-skinned man hadn't been nearly a foot taller than she was, the punch would have hit him in the nose. Instead, it connected with his windpipe. The man gasped and his knees gave as his throat was nearly crushed. Shinko grabbed the vase off the table behind her, bringing it down on the guard's head as it came down towards her level. His eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed.

"Thank Kami," Shinko sighed, falling to her knees as well, as pain suddenly flared through his arm, replacing the adrenalin. After a few moments trying to bite back tears and calm her shuddering breath she reached down and grabbed the sword, awkwardly slicing a long strip off the sleeve of her gi. Biting her lip harder, she wrapped the makeshift bandage tightly around her forearm, trying to stem the bleeding. The cut was long, but thankfully shallow, a thin flap of skin that had been peeled away nearly to her elbow.

"_Ittai_..." She whimpered as she knotted it, shoving the katana into her waistband with her left hand. Her right arm tingled, the fiery pain so intense that her mind refused to accept it, blood seeping through the makeshift bandage in a slowly spreading stain. She flexed her fingers, feeling the blood pulse faster into the bandage, but fortunately, the blow had been glancing enough not to sever any major muscles – she had heard the story of Yutaro and Raijuta, and how 'Cat-eyes'' future as a swordfighter had been destroyed.

When she had recovered slightly, she looked around, stepping carefully over the guard and the shattered vase. She wished that Gohei were here to discuss things with – she'd never realised what a comforting presence the big old man had been, without even having to do anything – but the only way to go was down, so she cautiously began to descend the stairs.

*break*

The house was tall and slightly dilapidated, but not enough to stand out among the other tall houses in the area. The gate was open and a narrow path led up to the house, shaded by small trees.

"So do we just walk in?" Shinya asked, staring at the unimposing building, his mouth dry.

"Why not?" Kenji asked, smiling mirthlessly.

"Because I say so." Both boys whirled at the sound. A burly man came round the corner of the house, a pair of long, serrated blades lying along his forearms.

"Who-" Shinya asked, reaching for his bokken.

"I am Kuroshin Kasuke." The man said flexing his wrists, but still waiting a good distance away from the two boys.

"Should that mean something to us?" Kenji growled, dropping into a fighting stance, one hand on his bokken.

"He doesn't recognise us, _nii-chan_?" a petulant young boy's voice asked as a child came round the corner as well. He was slender and short, about fourteen, and had short black hair that had been raggedly hacked into spikes that brushed his shoulders. "Not even after I had to cut my hair for that stupid charade?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Kuroshin Kana – I'm Toranaga-sama's 'Shinko'." The boy smirked, folding his arms and leaning against his brother's shoulder in an obviously contrived movement. "You can also see me performing in the Kyoto Shingeki production of Ibsen-sensei's 'Love's comedy'."

"_Ototo_..." Kasuke said warningly, pushing him away.

"What? They're allo-" Kana started, sniffing haughtily. His composure was shattered a moment later as Kenji and Shinya moved. Kenji darted around Shinya, drawing his bokken as he launched himself at Kasuke, leaping high off the ground and angling himself down towards Kasuke. Shinya was a moment behind, ducking behind Kana and grabbing his gi and pinning his arms behind his head. As Kenji's bokken descended on the side of Kasuke's head with a crack, instant's before the big man's serrated blades would have sliced across his midriff. "-wed to... appreciate... art..."

"Quiet midget." Shinya said, sidestepping neatly as Kasuke crumpled.

"You hit my Nii-san!" Kana shouted angrily, trying to squirm out of Shinya's grip.

"He didn't exactly make it difficult. Kenji said shrugging. "Now, where is Shinko?" Kenji asked, his face very close to Kana's and his voice nearly cold enough to frost his breath.

"I don't–" Kana broke off as Shinya's arm tightened around his throat. "She's probably on the top floor..."

"Let's go Shinya-kun." Kenji said, turning away.

"But what about him?" Shinya asked, jerking his chin at the boy in his arms.

"Hit him on the head and dump him next to his brother." Kenji said, which caused Kana to start protesting again.

"But he's just a kid..."

"He looks about a year younger than you." Kenji said, nonplussed.

"It's an important year... anyway, he's smaller than me. You're not allowed to hit people smaller than you..." Shinya shuffled his feet uncomfortably.

"He's about half an inch shorter than you."

"An important half-inch."

"I hit you all the time." Kenji said, ignoring Kana's indignant complaint as he tried to wriggle out of Shinya's arms again.

"Wait! Don't!" Kana said, holding his hands up.

"Fine. One more question. Where was _Shinko_-san when you and your brother were playing your little game?" Kenji asked, turning back to Kana.

"Toranaga-san was in the first room with Ayame-san. They drugged her and waited for you to leave before they took her here.

"What about Natsuko?" Shinya asked, just as Kenji spoke up.

"Who's Ayame-san?"

Kana snickered, a smug smile breaking out across his face.

"Ayame-san is the best actress I know... hasn't been round much lately though. She was playing a role for Toranaga-san somewhere."

"But..." Shinya's eyes widened and his face went slack with surprise. Kenji barely twitched before smacked the hilt of his bokken into Kana's temple.

"There. Now let's go find Shinko-san." Shinya dropped Kana's limp body, following Kenji slowly, his movements dazed and careless.

"Natsuko..."

*break*

Shinko crept down the stairs, feeling the uncomfortably heavy weight of the katana at her waist. It wasn't as well-balanced as the blunt one she had received from Kaname-san, and heavier.

"But Toranaga-sama..." Shinko froze as she heard Kiyoshi's voice, "I don't think that Shinko-dono would be willing to work for Tanuki-sama."

"Everyone has a price, Kiyoshi." Toranaga's voice came from a room on the left side of the corridor at the base of the steps.

"I know that," Kiyoshi said, bitterness in his voice. "But I don't think she does."

"She'll find out. Her brother is in Tokyo now, is he not?"

"He came for... 'Natsuko-san'."

"Ayame-chan was telling me about that." Toranaga chuckled. "Well, you should probably go feed her – I have to go meet with our talented young spy." Shinko ducked back up to the top of the stairs, peering around the corner as Toranaga left the room, walking briskly down the stairs, Kiyoshi emerging a moment behind with a tray in his hands, his head drooping, causing a fall of hair to obscure his expression.

*break*

**NB:** The black guard was not meant to be derogative, but at the time there were probably fairly few Africans wandering around and I wanted to make the point that Toranaga _did_ show up on a ship recently, and probably had crew-members from around the globe, and so please no-one get pissed off at me. The weird spelling is because I gave a phonetic equivalent of what 'African' would be in Japanese to emphasise the strangeness of them to the Japanese at the time. I don't think this should be enough to upset anyone, but if it is then please tell me and I'll change it. But please remember that this story is set in 1899-1900, before things such as 'political correctness' was invented, and I am kinda trying to maintain some period integrity. Anyway, it is a stylistic device that I think enhances the tone, but I will it remove if it offends, and I shall defend myself no further about it...


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen:

Yuki looked up from the target tacked to her wall, pulling out one of the kunai stuck in it as her bedroom door slid open.

"What do _you _want?" she demanded as Natsuko walked into the room, hands folded neatly behind her back.

"Just to talk to you, Yuki-chan," the older girl smiled winningly, her left hand smoothing out a minute crinkle in her elegant kimono.

"Go away, Natsuko-san." Yuki snapped, turning her back on Natsuko. She didn't like the pretty girl any more than Shinko-nee. It wasn't fair that Shinya-nii had come all the way to Tokyo for _her, _when Shinko was the one in trouble. It was even less fair that she got to listen to the _Oniwabanshu_ meetings, and Yuki didn't, even though no-one really knew her, and Yuki was a kunoichi in training.

"Don't be like that, Yuki-chan." Natsuko said patronisingly, stepping closer.

"Go away!" Yuki yelled, throwing the kunai at Natsuko. It slashed through her sleeve. Natsuko hissed as the small dagger shredded through the rice-paper door behind her.

The young woman's eyes narrowed, and she stepped forwards, slapping Yuki across the right cheek, hard enough to snap the girl's head to the side. As her eyes blurred with tears, Yuki felt Natsuko's hand clench in her pigtails, as cold steel was pressed to throat.

"I liked that kimono, Yuki-chan. And my name is not 'Natsuko'. I am Ayame Kanbayashi"

"Now, Yuki-chan, we're going to go and ask your _Okaasan_ to write a letter to Shinya-nii's family."

*break*

"Kiyoshi-san," Shinko hissed, covering Kiyoshi's mouth as he reached the top of the stairs. He jerked, nearly dropping the tray, and his grey eyes widened, as he saw her. After a moment Shinko loosened her grip, letting Kiyoshi step away.

"How did you get out?" Kiyoshi demanded in a whisper. "The door was locked."

"... I broke it." Shinko said, shrugging. "What were you and Toranaga-san talking about?"

"Tanuki-sama, Toranaga-sama's boss, wants you to come to work for him. He prefers to employ people who aren't expected to be dangerous. You're small, female, and well trained in combat. A perfect résumé for him." Kiyoshi said coldly, grimacing.

"Some criminal wants to hire me?" Shinko asked in disbelief, overlooking the comment about smallness and femaleness.

"No, a very powerful criminal _will_ hire you." Kiyoshi said, looking away.

"Why do you work for Toranaga?" Shinko asked, peering down the stairs.

"I'd rather not talk about it." Kiyoshi said, looking away. "How did you get past the guard?"

"I broke a vase over his head." Shinko gestured towards the slumped man at the end of the corridor.

"_Nandeyaanen_," Kiyoshi murmured, laughing in disbelief. "You are a very strange girl you know."

"He was trying to cut my head off. It was that or the table." Shinko said, shrugging.

"Why are you doing this? You act like you... trust me..."

"I heard you arguing with Toranaga – you seem to be on my side."

"Didn't I just tell you that Tanuki-sama hires people who _seem_ harmless?"

"Well, if you aren't on my side, I have a big, sharp sword."

"True."

*break*

Misao was sitting in her room, looking through old _oniwabanshu_ records, reports, letters, anything that might mention this Tanuki-sama. So far, there was nothing. It seemed impossible that a whatever this network was, had managed to remain undetected while publicly tolling the roads into Kyoto and planning to kidnap the child that Misao – as a temporary _okashira_ – considered as her niece, right out from under the _onmitsu_'s nose.

The _oniwabanshuu _was disintegrating. Even when Aoshi-sama had left with Hannya, Beshimi, Hyotoko and Shikijo all those years ago, there had still been Okina and the others, and the people had been on their side as well, now... now it was almost as if the _onmitsu_ had never really existed. Misao and Aoshi had both given up direct control to Masaru, mainly concerned with the running of the _Aoi-ya _and the raising of their daughter, and the boy had only a few _shinobi, _a _kunoichi_, and Yuki-chan, working for him. It wasn't enough to maintain an intelligence network across Kyoto, let alone across Japan as it had been when Misao had been a young girl.

"_Haha..._"

Misao turned as she heard the _shoji _screen scrape open, hearing Yuki's voice – tearful, almost frightened.

Natsuko stood in the doorway, a small _wakizashi _pressed against Yuki's neck, her lovely face wearing a sweet smile that didn't even hint at whatever horrible perversion that allowed her to stand there with a blade at Yuki's throat. Misao's eyes widened as she felt the world spiralling out of reality.

"Don't move, please."

Yuki bit her lip, not daring to struggle against the grip on her small body as she saw her mother's hand freeze halfway to the dozens of kunai and other weapons laid out on the edge of the desk – an almost unconscious gesture. Her cheek was hot and stinging where Natsuko - no, _Ayame _– had slapped her, and there was a sick feeling in her stomach as she fought back the tears.

_I'm Oniwabanshuu. I don't cry._

"Let go of her." Misao said, very slowly, her breathing slightly irregular, but no hint of tension crossing her wide aquamarine eyes as she fixed her gaze on Yuki.

"I want you to write me a letter," Ayame said, shrugging. "Adress it to Yahiko-san, please." Ayame watched as Misao slowly moistened her inkstone and brush, pulling a sheet of paper towards her, her eyes still fixed on Yuki as she tapped the wooden end of the against the desk three times – to dislodge any extra drops of water – before writing Yahiko's name on one side with small, precise letters.

"Let me tell you what's going to happen tonight," Ayame said when Misao looked up. "Shinya and Kenji are on their way to Toranaga-sama's house now, where they will find twenty-seven well-trained warriors waiting for them. The best they can hope for is to be locked up with Shinko-des. You will inform Yahiko-san of this tragic state of affairs – write 'Shinko-kun and Shinya-kun were captured by Toranaga-sama, please come help' – and I will keep Yuki as a vouchsafe until Yahiko arrives.

"What do you want with Yahiko-kun?"

"He's a threat," Ayame shrugged. "And famous. To be able to erase his existence would make many things much easier." She plucked the nearly dry note out of Misao's hands, comparing it against the other ones she'd seen the kunoichi send over the last few days, and nodded in satisfaction.

*break*

Downstairs, Kenji pushed the door open, almost kicking his shoes off at the entry hall, but deciding against it – he would not show politeness to these creatures, no matter how ingrained it was. Plus, they might use caltrops or something – assuming they worked anything like Masaru and the remnants of the _Oniwabanshuu _did.

The bottom floor looked fairly non-descript – an open room with smaller rooms and stairs at the back, decorated in the slightly shabby style that the exterior suggested, but from upstairs, the sound of quiet voices could be heard.

"Where do you think she is?" Kenji asked Shinya, looking around. He doubted Shinko would be in this lower floor – all the doors he could see were paper shoji, and flimsy enough to snap.

"Definitely upstairs." Shinya said, without even looking around. "Upstairs or safely out." Kenji smiled grimly, fingering the bokken at his waist.

The two boys shared a long look, an echo of the moment that they had decided to find Shinko themselves.

"Friends?" Shinya asked after a second.

"If we survive." Kenji replied. The dark-haired boy nodded, before they turned and ran up the stairs, Shinya letting loose with a loud battle cry.

*Break*

"Wait – what? Natsuko-chan is evil?" Shinko held her hand up to stop Kiyoshi's explanation a frown furrowing her brow.

"Maybe 'evil' is not the right word, but she is not on your side." Kiyoshi said shrugging. "People who look harmless, remember?"

"But... but she was kidnapped!"

"A very elaborate hoax. Ayame-san and Kana-san were both quite proud of it." It let her win Aoshi-dono and Misao-dnoo's trust as well.

"...but she's probably at the _Aoi-ya _right now!" Shinko shouted, her eyes widening in horror. "We have to go!" She grabbed Kiyoshi's wrist and began barrelling down the stairs.

The third floor looked to be primarily Toranaga's private rooms and such – surprisingly tasteful decorations, and shoji painted with blue-toned landscapes and rivers.

"Shinko-san, wait –" Kiyoshi dug his heels in, managing to put up a surprising amount of resistance, overcoming the short girl's momentum and dragging her to a stop.

"The next floor is where everyone _is_." He whispered, backing away from the stairs, voices drifting up from the bottom. It's bedrooms and a dining area for all of Toranaga's lackeys – we can't just run in..."

"...Why not?" Shinko asked, unconsciously mirroring Kenji's words. "We need to warn them that Natsuko-"

"-Ayame-" Kiyoshi corrected quietly.

"-is a spy."

"Didn't you say she was staying at the _Aoi-ya_? Have the _Oniwabanshu _really become that useless?"

"You know about the _Oni-_ You know about the _Aoi-ya_?" Shinko asked, her eyes widening. The _Oniwabanshu _wasn't exactly unheard of, but knowing where its headquarters were was probably bad.

"Of course – You might say Tanuki-sama has replaced Aoshi-san in the field." Kiyoshi shrugged, his face blank. After a moment he turned away, walking quietly into one of the rooms. After a mement, he emerged with a small bag, and the tasselled, blunt weapon that Toranaga had taken from Shinko earlier.

"How did you get that?"

"It was in Toranaga-sama's room. That sword is too big for you." Kiyoshi nodded to the heavier katana at Shinko's waist.

Shinko nodded, slipping the katana out of its sheath and replacing it with her own sword, handing the longer blade to Kiyoshi, who frowned as he noted the awkwardness of the movement, before his fingers darted out, as fast and nimble as a crane, and caught the edge of her right sleeve, lifting it away from the inadequate bandage.

"Can you fight like that?" He asked, his grey eyes serious as he pulled out a bandage from the small bag. Shinko tugged the sleeve back down, looking away.

"It's fine."

Kiyoshi cast his eyes heavenward with a soft sigh, unknotting the strip of Shinko's gi and replacing it with a proper bandage which her wound tightly around most of her arm, the pressure enough to stem the bleeding.

"I was sent here from Osaka because Toranaga needed another medic," the grey-eyed man shrugged again, as he worked, responding to Shinko's questioning stare. "I don't know much, but enough to make me more useful out of a fight than in it." He was just tying the knot when there was a shout from downstairs.

"That's Shinya!" Shinko turned away, finishing the knot herself, before turning and running down the stairs.

*Break*

Masaru heard the shout from his position on the roof, and smiled. He'd already been down to peer into the small room which he'd guessed would be Shinko's – and from the broken pottery, gutted lock, flowery shinai bag, and distinct emptiness, he'd guessed right. He hefted the bag – it had been a feat that tested even his talents to extract it from the slightly ajar cupboard, without being able to fit into the room – and tied it to his belt, before carefully descending to the next tier of the roof. The third floor was wider than the fourth, and had a narrow balcony running around it as well. Masaru landed lightly on it, pulling open the door into a small room with several painted scrolls on it, all apparently by the same artist. Opening the door, he darted across the corridor, listening to the shouts downstairs as he slid open another door into a much larger room; Toranaga's.

Toranaga seemed to be a man that liked his privacy, and slept with one eye open. The room was slightly too messy to have a regular cleaner, and there was nowhere for a guard to be stationed. Either paranoia or overconfidence – Masaru secretly suspected it might be both; since if the situation were reversed, then he would probably fall prey to both faults as well. The boy dismissed the thought and brushed back his dark hair in a quick, excited motion, before setting to work.

*break*

Now who guessed Natsuko was evil – before I introduced Kana and all the heavy hints? The incongruities have been building up since she was 'kidnapped' at exactly the moment Shinko walked by, back in Chapter 14. If no-one guessed, I screwed up, if everyone guessed, I screwed up. If about a third of you guessed then I can go to my lair, cackle, and start writing mysteries, Bwahaha ... or not.

And there's a nice big fight scene next chapter, and all – or at least lots – will be revealed... and Word is gonna have a fit at my sentence-length ;P


	19. Chapter 19

Hey-hey! It's a chapter and less than a month since I last updated!

Chapter nineteen;

Shinko ran down the stairs to find herself in a scene of chaos. Low tables upended into a mess of cards and dice and almost two dozen people were crouched to attack, their attention focussed on the boys standing at the other end of the room one figure more familiar than her own face, the other instantly identifiable by his shock of red hair. Three people were standing by the other door, and let out a shout when they heard her barrelling down.

Shinya let out a whoop as he caught sight of her, almost letting someone slice his ear off as he dodged past them, grinning.

"Careful!" Shinko shouted, skidding into two of the guards, ducking under the kunai they held in each hand as she dug the shoulder and elbow of her good arm into their stomachs, using her momentum to twist herself around behind them and unsheathing her blade from her waistband and cracking it into their shoulders. The third guard came round, swinging a katana at her head. She blocked it, using her hand to support the end of the blade and her injured arm's grip. She twisted her blade, maintaining contact with the other sword and pushing its sharp edge away from her body as she rammed the point into his shoulder. He stumbled back, and Shinko turned her focus back to the first two guards, knocking them on their heads with the heavy hilt of her 'decorative' katana as the third guard recovered, pulling out a long wakizashi with his other hand, his right arm limp and hanging too low down his leg. Shinko frowned in consternation as the two guards behind her – one an almost kindly looking, middle-aged lady she noticed as her mind caught up with her body – fell unconscious to the tatami floor. The man with the wakizashi lunged as some of the other guards began to detach from the group around Kenji and Shinya to circle around her.

"_Imoto_!" Shinko winced as she heard Shinya's voice, the warning causing her to jerk back as a blade whizzed by her chest – it was the man with the wakizashi, the mirrored movements of his left-handed attack throwing her reactions off by a near fatal fraction. Another guard attacked from her flank, and she blocked again, before swinging her blade into the guard's ribcage, then flicking it into the guard with the wakizashi's shoulder. She ducked forwards again as more blades, wakizashi, kunai, kodachi, katana, and other, stranger weapons, glittered into the air weaving in a complex cage that didn't follow any single pattern. She twisted, her hilt thudding into one guard's stomach as she turned her blade in a heavy cut that would have sliced another guard in half if her blade had been sharp.

Another blade, heavier, curved, sliced through her sleeve, leaving it hanging off her bandaged arm, and she heard Shinya shout in pain or shock, feeling her stomach clench at the sound. Kenji was silent, his bokken cracking down against the shoulder of the man who injured Shinya. The wooden blade shattered, in a puff of splinters.

Shinya, blood already beginning to drip from a shallow cut across his chest, jumped in front of Kenji as the older boy ducked into a defensive stance, searching the ground for a weapon that approximated a katana closely enough to be of use. The dark-haired boy parried a heavy swing, wincing as a heavy, curved blade, wielded by a young woman sliced almost the entire way through his bokken.

"Catch!" A male voice calls from the other end of the room as a gleaming blade twirls through the air, thudding into the wall beside Kenji, who grabbed it, grimacing slightly at the weight, before turning back to the fight, covering Shinya as he located the nearest fighter with a katana, having been unable to find one on the floor.

Shinko heard Kiyoshi's shout and risked a glance behind her to see the young man standing behind her, holding a thin, segmented staff and standing at the door with a look of distaste as he maintained a defensive stance.

The hiss of a projectile drew her attention back, making her duck away as one of the people standing further back threw a shuriken at her head, grazing her cheek, a near impossible shot in the confusion – even Misao would have had difficulty.

Two of the fighters stopped, at the sound of Kiyoshi's shout. A young woman a few years older than Kenji and a middle-age man pulled away, the girl pausing mid-swing as she attacked Kenji with a staff tipped with a half-moon blade on each end. They both fell back to stand by Kiyoshi confusion on their faces.

"Kano-san?" The girl asked, twirling her staff in loose loops to defend the both of them from the occasional stray missile.

"The boys look 'useful', don't they, Nanako-chan, Itsuki-san?" Kiyoshi suggested, and the middle-aged man chuckled. The three of them stayed separate from the fray, watching.

Kenji had disarmed the guard with the katana, and slid the blade to Shinya. Now both boys were armed with sharp blades, glittering in the lamplight. A woman screamed as Kenji sliced the muscles in her arm – Shinko winced in sympathy, her own arm twinging – but Shinya was holding back, the training from Kenshin, Yahiko, and even Kaoru making him hesitate.

Shinko brought her blade down on the back of the head of a fighter who was taking advantage of Shinya's hesitation to try to chop his head off. The strength of the blow sent pain up her arm, followed by a flood of damp warmth

"Domo," Shinya muttered, twisting his blade to a more awkward angle so that he could use the flat, before joining the fight in earnest, as Kenji stabbed a man who was attacking Shinko savagely through the shoulder.

*break*

Masaru heard the shouting increase in volume as he stuffed a sheaf of papers into a satchel at his waist, before moving down the stairs, hands at his weapons.

"Konbanwa," a polite, effeminate man stepped out of the way at the bottom of the stairs, letting Masaru see the tightly packed mass of bodies, almost half of whom were already unconscious, or had staggered back, clutching broken bones or shallow gashes.

Pulling out the kodachi that Aoshi-sama had taught him to use, Masaru darted forwards, attacking from behind. Kenji grunted in pain as a heavy mace-like weapon glanced off his hip, the wall at the back hedging him in as he blocked another attack to his face.

Shinko ducked round Shinya with a snarl, attacking Kenji's assailants ferociously. The red-haired boy stumbled back against the wall, off-balance as he leaned heavily on his right leg.

Shinya hissed as a spear grazed his shoulder, and heard Shinko let out a half-sob of pain as she barely parried a hack at her own shoulder from a two-handed blade, the impact jarring down her arm and sending a fresh wave of blood down her forearm. The handle, slippery with the blood oozing from her arm slid away from her grip, deflecting the huge blade in a glancing blow along her thigh. Kenji pushed her back, and with a savage growl, stabbed the man with the two-handed sword. He fell back, blood streaming from his chest, as Kenji stumbled, his left leg giving out under him.

Behind them, Masaru was cutting through the remainder of the guards, leaving them injured but not dead. He reached the three swordfighters just as Shinya managed to knock away a blade that was about to descend on Kenji as he tried to stand up on his damaged hip. Shinko, blood running down her arm and leg, managed to pull away from the wall, blocking the blade of the last guard, a tall, slender female, as Masaru knocked his hilt against the base of her neck.

Shinya meanwhile had finished off the other one, leaving the room full of groaning or unconscious bodies, as the big man with the two-handed sword convulsed around the hole in his chest, blood spraying between his lips as he coughed. Masaru turned and with one neat motion, cut the guards head off.

"What did you –" Shinko started, dropping onto the ground and gripping her thigh.

"He was dead," Masaru shrugged, wiping his blades and tossing several rolls of bandages at Shinya. "Bandage them up." He said before turning to Kiyoshi and the only other two people left standing. Itsuko had a curved knife held against each forearm, and Nanako still held her staff.

"Will you believe me if I say we don't want to fight?" Kiyoshi asked, resting a hand on the shoulders of each of his henchmen.

"I might, but I wouldn't believe you if you said we should let you go, unless you gave me some very good reasons." Masaru said, holding his blades ready.

"I am Tanuki-sama's most useful agents in Osaka?" Kiyoshi suggested, shrugging.

"He helped me." Shinko added through gritted teeth as Shinya tightened the bandage around her thigh. Her lower lip was gripped tightly between her teeth, but she wasn't looking at any of the people standing around her, or even Kenji, who was sitting beside her, his fingers gingerly probing his thigh. Her eyes were fixed on the head of the dead guard.

"He wasn't being very helpful when we were fighting for our lives." Kenji growled, one of his hands hovering just above Shinko's shoulder.

"If I did fight, then I wouldn't be able to go back to Osaka. This way, I can say that I didn't want to risk my friends and lieutenants lives in a battle that occurred due to Toranaga-sama's incompetence." Nanako wrinkled her nose at the honorific Kiyoshi chose for the wiry man with his shabby western clothes.

"You're proposing acting as a counter-agent?" Masaru demanded, still holding his blades up.

"You need one... You need several in fact." Kiyoshi said, shrugging again.

"The _Oniwabashu_-"

"-is falling apart. Otherwise Tanuki-sama would have been crushed already."

"Why don't you trust him, Masaru-san?" Shinko asked, looking up from the body as Shinya began stauncing the injuries on his chest and shoulder, after determining that he could do nothing for Kenji's leg.

"You trusted 'Natsuko'." Masaru said. He'd found a report written by what could only have been the pretty girl on Toranaga's desk.

"Can we sort this out later? I think that something's broken, or at least dislocated in Kenji's hip."

"Let Kiyoshi-san help." Itsuki suggested, slipping his blades into his sheaths, apparently satisfied that hostilities were no longer imminent.

"He's trained as a doctor." Shinko added, turning to check on Kenji, her dark brows drawing down into a frown.

"This is idiocy. How can you be so naive?"

"We need to go! We all know that Natsuko is – we need to go make sure that she doesn't try anything." Shinya gripped the katana he'd acquired more tightly, his jaw set.

"We need to deal with these." Masaru snapped, jerking his head around the room.

"Here, chloroform," Kiyoshi held up a tightly sealed metal flask. "Throw it in after you and they'll all be knocked out. Most probably won't remember what happened properly either."

"...Fine. Shinya, help Kenji. Shinko, can you walk? You three, go in front." Masaru barked out directions, taking the flask from Kiyoshi and pushing them out. He waited as the group limped downstairs, Kiyoshi helping Shinko, before he unsealed the lid of the flask and throwing it in, before leaving as well. The fine liquid splashed out of the bottle, fumes beginning to drift from the puddles to fill the room as Masaru slid the door shut.

*break*

Should be back to the _Aoi-ya _soon.

*break*


	20. Chapter 20

I am SO sorry - I have had dead internet and crazy too-much maths and nearly finished school and just LOTS of stuff on. But here is the chapter, and I'll try adn update again this week to make up for it...

Chapter twenty:

Misao smiled comfortingly at Yuki as she folded the letter, her eyes trained away from the long shadow that crossed the rice-paper door.

"In all the years I've been _Oniwabanshu_, no-one ever threatened an eight-year-old girl. What happened to hon- actually, what happened to basic human decency?" Misao asked Ayame, nearly shouting, her cheeks burning with anger and her eyes burning with fear as she watched the door behind Ayame, still smiling at her daughter.

"Too old-fashioned." Ayame shrugged, nonchalant, but her eyes widened as a hand gripped her wrist from behind, twisting it away from Yuki's neck and forcing her to drop her wakizashi.

"They say that with age comes wisdom."

"_Otousan_!" Yuki said, a smile breaking out across her face as Misao gathered her daughter up into her arms, smothering the eight-year-old in a tight hug.

"Don't kill her," she hissed over Yuki's head, her eyes cold. "She's mine."

Aoshi raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything, holding Ayame immobile with contemptuous ease – one arm holding her arm behind her back, the other constricting her windpipe just enough that she could breathe, but not speak – as Yuki pulled away from her mother, enough that she could breathe, but staying close enough to clutch Misao's sleeve.

"Look _Otousan_, I managed to hit her when she tried to get me!" She said proudly, pointing at the tear in Ayame's sleeve.

"Well done." Aoshi said, his grim expression lightening slightly as Yuki beamed at this highest of praise.

"She looks confused," Misao said with a mirthless laugh, picking Yuki up again. "She actually thought we were that stupid."

"You knew...?" Ayame croaked, her pale face flushed.

"No, we weren't certain," Misao shrugged, picking up her kunai. "And we didn't expect you to go after _Yuki _if you _were _working for Toranaga."

"When is Masaru-san coming back to ask her questions?" Yuki asked, curling up in her mother's arms. Misao frowned as she felt the small body shuddering, her little heart pounding.

"Soon, sweetheart," Misao said, stroking Yuki's hair. "But it's past your bedtime."

"Okay, will _otousan _tell me a story?" Misao looked at Aoshi over their daughters head, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course. Misao, can you take Ayame down to the storage cellar?" Misao nodded, gently nudging Yuki off her lap so that she could take hold of Ayame, leaving the little girl to go with Aoshi.

As the petite woman's arms wrapped around Ayame, the girl twisted, trying to get away, but instead of one of Aoshi's long arms, she found a razor sharp kunai at her throat.

"You tried to hurt my daughter," Misao hissed, her eyes icy. "I am not in the mood to be nice." The words were cold and the two women watched Aoshi carry Yuki out of the room in front of them, taking the opposite turn down the corridor.

*break*

Masaru found Shinko and the others just outside the house; Kiyoshi was checking Kenji's hip with gentle fingers.

"It's only dislocated. Hold him." He gripped Kenji's leg as Nanako and Itsuki braced themselves against Kenji's back, holding him still as Kiyoshi pushed against Kenji's thigh, pushing the bone back into place with a stomach-turning click.

"We can go now." Masaru said, with a slight frown as he helped Kenji – who had gone slightly pale from having his leg reset – to his feet. The redhead could stand, and even walk a bit now, and Masaru set off down the road, thinking. It would have been easier, and safer, to have killed them all, but Masaru's gut rebelled at the idea. The _Oniwabashu _wasn't like that anymore.

"Wait. I can't go with you – I need to stay – I'll cover for you." Kiyoshi smiled, tilting his head at the building and smiling slightly at Shinko's disappointed expression.

"Nanako-chan will you go with – actually, you stay here. Itsuki-san? If Ayame has made her move, they may try to kill Nanako-chan on sight, or..." Nanako and Itsuki nodded as Kiyoshi bowed farewell, walking back into the house.

"We should hurry." Itsuki said briskly, setting off down the path leading back to the street. "Kiyoshi-san will blame _Oniwabanshu _– it'll make you seem stronger, which will delay retribution."

"Do you think the _oniwabanshu_ was like this?" Shinya murmured to his sister, too quietly for Masaru, who was in deep discussion with Itsuki a few yards ahead, to hear. Shinko shrugged, letting Shinya wrap his arm around her waist taking some of the wait off her still bleeding leg.

"Easily." Kenji replied, a grunt of pain slipping between his lips as the street began to climb uphill.

"Let me help." Shinya and Shinko spoke in unison. Shinya looked at his sister, raising a sceptical eyebrow as he pointed a glance at the bandage around her leg. The girl looked slightly sheepish. "Don't worry, _imoto_, I have another shoulder."

"I'm not your _imoto._" She muttered, looking away sheepishly as Shinya dragged Kenji's arm over his shoulder, in order to support his weight as well.

"I'm going on ahead with Itsuki-san." Masaru said, an impatient bite in his voice as he noted the three fighters' slow progress. "Meet us at the _Aoi-ya_."

"Okay, I can see it now." Shinya muttered as the two shinobi sped up to run, vanishing around the corner without looking back. Shinko elbowed him half-heartedly.

*break*

The _Aoi-ya _was sombre and silent. Shinko, Kenji and Shinya were all exhausted from adrenaline and blood loss as they slumped around the table, eating the soup Misao insisted they have. Masaru had already vanished by the time they arrived, taking Itsuko and Aoshi with him, but the look on Misao's face was more frightening than Aoshi's coldest glare.

"Are you three okay for now?" She asked briskly, her fingers tapping rapidly against her thigh as she looked towards the door again.

"Fine, _Oyasumi narai, _Misao-dono." Kenji said, smiling at the kunoichi.

"_Oyasumi narai_." Misao muttered in reply before promptly turning and leaving the room. Shinko slumped onto the table, pushing her empty bowl away and resting her forehead on her arms as Shinya helped himself to another serving.

"I wonder what they're going to do to Natsu-Ayame-san..." Shinya said suddenly, putting his bowl down with a clack, worry crawling across his face.

"Don't want to think about it." Shinko mumbled back, her shoulders arching as she yawned.

"They'll have to use her as a show of strength. Masaru-san left Toranaga-san's main force alive, which either sends the message that we are confident that they aren't a threat, or that we're too soft to kill if need be."

"What?" Shinya's head snapped around to stare disbelievingly at Kenji.

"I did not want to know," Shinko murmured quietly, sitting up and grabbing her sword, rubbing her eyes. "Let's go."

"To find Ayame-san?" Kenji asked standing up.

"Of course." Shinya said, resting a hand on his sister's shoulder with a small, grateful, smile.

*break*

"Next time I would appreciate it if you warned me before bringing possibly hostile spies into my home, Masaru-kun." Aoshi said coolly as he regarded Itsuki.

"We need to expand our force if we have a hope of fighting Toranaga or Tanuki." Masaru explained. "Kiyoshi offered us his help, and Itsuki is here for that reason."

"I cannot tell you much about what is happening in Kyoto – we have only been here for a few weeks, and Toranaga does not trust Kiyoshi-san. However, the entire wealth of what we do in Osaka will be at your disposal."

"What about Tanuki?"

"He rules with a loose hand, and deals in information. The money we make interests him very little – and I doubt Kiyoshi will be as willing to help you against Tanuki-sama as against Toranaga."

"Is that all you can tell us?" Aoshi asked.

"There are the details, but most of it will not help you against Toranaga."

"Aoshi-sama? Will you discuss them with Itsuki-san? I want to go and speak to Ayame-san."

"Leave her alive, Masaru-kun." Aoshi said, glancing up before turning back to Itsuki.

*break*

Ayame tasted blood in her mouth as she watched Masaru, quiescent by the door, watching her with disturbingly blank eyes, a cold, uncaring stare that sent a shiver down her spine. People never looked at her like that. They saw her face, her slender form and lustrous hair, and they desired her, to possess or to mimic, but there was always heat in their eyes.

"Natsuko..." He said the name slowly, watching her. "Why did you choose that name?"

Ayame narrowed her eyes, swallowing and looking away, but forcing her jaw to relax, the tang of blood from the bitten tissues of her cheek spreading across her tongue like the taste of fear.

"A dead family member then..."

"What are you – a charlatan who peddles in petty fortunes and messages from the dead?" She snapped anger clogging her throat as her hands clenched, the ropes binding them together digging into her wrists.

"I merely seek to know an enemy." Masaru shrugged picking up a thick roll of heavy cloth that clinked slightly as it moved.

"I'm hardly an enemy of consequence."

Masaru crossed the room in two swift paces, kneeling down so that their faces were at nearly the same height as he unrolled the cloth.

"You are an enemy of great consequence – you infiltrated the _oniwabansuu onmitsu _and I am the one who must decide how to respond to that, and the challenge posed by Tanuki and Toranaga. Also, I am sadly lacking in information about these enigmatic characters, and have to rectify that." The last folds of cloth pooled out over his hands, drawing Ayame's eyes down to the neat rows of metal implements, curved blades and sharp spikes, straight and serrated edges gleaming against the cloth.

"My pretty face first?" She asked with an indifference she did not feel.

"No – torture is a strategic enterprise, and your 'pretty face' is a powerful tactic that can only be used once, like kidnapping the child of one's hosts, perhaps..." Masaru shrugged, a hint of regret flitting across his features. "And, of course, it would be aesthetically regrettable."

"What the hell does that mean?" The wooden door banged open – it could only be locked from the outside – Shinya stood in the opening, poised and irate, with his feet apart and one hand on his bokken. Shinko and Kenji stood behind him, both looking slightly worse for wear than Shinya, Shinko particularly had dark shadows around her eyes that contrasted with her pale face.

A brief murmur of frustration escaped Masaru's lips as he placed the roll of cloth several a few feet away from Ayame's reach and stood up again, stepping away from Ayame before giving her his back so that he could face the three younger warriors.

"What do you want?"

"We came to stop you from... this... vile, despicable..." Shinya was staring around the room, disbelieving that Masaru – who had been raised almost as Yuki's brother since Aoshi and Misao adopted him, more than ten years ago – could even contemplate such an atrocity.

"We're here to ensure that honour is maintained." Kenji clarified smoothly, resting a hand on Shinya's shoulder.

"You won't hurt her, Masaru-kun." Ayame stared in disbelief as Shinya faced down the older, taller boy, his hands trembling in anger.

"And what do you propose to do with her instead?" Masaru demanded, a hint of frustration creeping into his cool, impassive voice.

"Send her to Tokyo – _Chichi _can keep an eye on her, _Haha _wouldn't need to know the details, pretend you killed her brutally if you have to, but if you hurt her..." His gaze strayed to Ayame and he trailed off, betrayal making its way across his expression, hurt, and a silent question in his eyes, but mixed with equal parts of anger and resentment.

"Why do you care about her?"

"I don't." Shinya looked away from Ayame, back to Masaru, everything other than anger draining away from his features. "This is about honour."

"I will talk to Aoshi-sama," Masaru said after a long pause. "Stay here with her." He left the room, shutting the door behind him with a click.

"Shinya-kun?" Ayame asked, twisting her wrists against the bonds to try and let the blood flow to her numb fingers. The boy didn't look at her, staring instead at the wall behind her, the interlocking stones flawlessly clean except where a faint shower of dirt had spilled through, but scratched and scored, as if by some huge violent monster. "Shinya-ku-"

"Don't talk to me. You are a betrayer and a liar. So just leave me alone." The hurt crossed his face again, his voice nearly quavering on the last words, and Shinko stepped forwards to wrap an arm around his shoulder and murmur something comforting in his ear, her own posture mirroring his as she shared and understood the hurt and the fractured innocence. Kenji moved away from the two, the closeness of their sibling relationship as awkward as the intimacy between any couple for an outsider to witness.

"That is one of the only men in the world who would do what he is doing now for the sake of his beliefs, and certainly the most naive of them – in spite of your best efforts. You should count yourself lucky." He said quietly to Ayame, not even glancing at her face, or seeing a flush of shame creep across her cheeks.

Silence fell across the room, as the four waited for Masaru to return.

*break*


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter twenty-one:

Masaru stood just outside the door, of the small stone chamber, and tried to stop his hands shaking. His skin felt like it was burning, but sweat encased it in ice, and trickled under his collar like the caress of dead fingers, making bile rise in an acid tide at the back of his throat.

He closed his eyes for a moment and composed himself, refusing to acknowledge the waves of nausea. He would talk to Aoshi, but he had already decided on his course of action; Meiji was meant to be a better age, a golden restoration, where honour was more than what was carried on the edge of a samurai's blade.

The next _Okashira _of the _oniwabanshuu _turned and walked away from the basement level that still served the original business of the _Aoi-ya_, and climbed the stairs to find Aoshi.

*break*

It took Masaru nearly half an hour to return, by which time Shinko, Shinya and Kenji had gathered by the door, none of them willing to talk to Ayame, although Shinya or occasionally Shinko would glance at her from time to time.

The door opened, and Masaru stood there, his face blank and impassive as always as he regarded Ayame.

"Tell me about Tanuki, and then you can go to Tokyo with Shinya-kun – as much for your protection as ours. Is honour satisfied?" The question seemed entirely sincere, and Shinya nodded reluctantly, so Masaru turned back to Ayame. "So tell us."

Ayame bowed her head, the urge to rub her temples.

"It would be dishonourable..." she muttered with a sarcastic laugh, trying to gather her thoughts. Genuine amusement flitted across Masaru's face for a moment and he spread his hands to show that there was nothing he could do about it.

"I owe... a loyalty to Tanuki-sama, but Toranaga-san is poorly liked by all of us – he arrived in Kyoto a month ago, and contacted Tanuki-sama, proposing a merging of their influences. His access to certain markets in China, and even as far as Europe, were enough for Tanuki-sama to agree, allowing Toranaga command of the people he felt were necessary to establish a base for trade to link back to foreign ports. But he already had that, and enough foreigners already working for him to accomplish whatever else he needed. He has a fondness for feminine fighters and works from the _Umenonemu-ya_." Ayame grimaced slightly. "I can't tell you much more."

"That's how he found you – someone must have recognised _Chichi_ there." Shinya murmured, glancing at Shinko.

"Except about Tanuki-sama?" Masaru prompted.

"No. I will not do that." Ayame shook her head.

"Leave it, Masaru-san." Shinya said as the taller boy opened his mouth to ask another question. "I'll take her back to Tokyo with me tomorrow, and get her out of your hair."

"Shiny-" Ayame began to speak, a grateful smile touching her lips, but he stood up and left before she had a chance to say anything.

Shinko followed her brother out of the room, draping an arm around his shoulder, and leaning on him.

"Don't worry about it." She said, grinning comfortingly.

"I still can't believe that she was..."

"I know. It wasn't very nice of Masaru-san to demand you stay with her."

"_Chichi_ couldn't have watched her all the time – it makes sense."

"Since when have you talked sense?" Shinko laughed.

"Shut up, cross-dressing _busu_."

"Ah speak for yourself, midget – I'm going to bed." Shinko poked her tongue out at Shinya before glancing back at the doorway as Kenji came out as well.

"Masaru intends to keep watch on Ayame-dono, - and rest assured he won't try to harm her again," he said. "You two should get some sleep."

"So should you – you need to heal as well." Shinko pointed out, nodding to the injured leg, which Kenji still favoured.

"_Haha _would be shocked at you." Shinya whispered in her ear, grinning wickedly. Without even blinking, Shinko shoved her elbow backwards, getting her brother in the base of his ribcage. Shinya gasped and doubled up.

"Chest wound, ow, chest wound..." he said, blood coming off on his palm as he pressed it against his lightly bandaged chest.

"_Kusot! Gome! _Shinya! _Gomene – _I forgot." Shinko swore again, her eyes widening as she grabbed his shoulder to support him.

"Don't worry about me – I'm just going to crawl off and die now." Shinya grumbled, his face pale as he tried to smile.

"Don't joke about that, Shinya-kun – we were all lucky to get out of that place alive." Kenji chided the younger boy mildly as the three climbed up the stairs.

*break*

Two days later, their injuries beginning to heal and Shinya preparing to return to Tokyo with Ayame – who planned to abandon the name for good in favour of Natsuko – Kuroshin Kana arrived at the door.

"Is Ayame-san here?" he asked Misao when she opened the door. There was a purple bruise over his temple from Kenji's bokken, and his eyes were red and puffy.

"Who are you?" Misao asked, staring at the boy. "And how old are you?"

"...My name is Kuroshin Kana, I'm an actor and I worked for Toranaga-sama... And I'm nearly fourteen..." The boy said sullenly, not looking at the kunoichi.

"_Kami-sama..._" Misao hissed in disbelief. "Who did that to your face?"

"That read-head who went looking for Shinko-san."

"KENJI!" Misao turned into the house and bellowed for the swordfighter before turning back to Kana, suspicion warring with concern on her features. "How did you find her?"

"She didn't meet Toranaga-sama when she was meant to. Kiyoshi-dono told me that you might know where she is..."

"...MASARU!" Misao shouted into the house again, before beckoning to Kana. "Come with me." Masaru arrived at her side seconds after she shouted, blinking in surprise as he saw Kana.

"What is it, Misao-dono?"

"I want to talk to you about the other evening."

"Why were you yelling for Kenji-kun?" Masaru asked as Kenji appeared from the courtyard, the twins behind him.

"Apologise to this boy, now." Misao snapped at the redhead, pointing to Kana's bruised forehead.

"Kenji?" Shinko turned to stare at him in shock, her mouth dropping open. Shinya looked uncomfortable, but didn't say anything.

"_Gomenasai_, Kana-kun," Kenji said, bowing. "I was angry and did not know how long it would take Shinya-kun and myself to find Shinko-san – I couldn't chance you alerting Toranaga's forces, or fetching reinforcements."

Masaru raised his eyebrows and looked at Kenji appraisingly.

"Good enough. Masaru, you said Kiyoshi could be trusted – why is he sending Toranaga's people to us?"

"I don't work for Toranaga-sama anymore!" Kana snapped, clenching his fists and jutting out his jaw. "He said that Ayame-san wouldn't be in any danger, and he was wrong. I don't care about him, or Tanuki – I only wanted to help Ayame-san, and _Nii_-san."

"Kana-chan?" Ayame had heard the commotion and was standing in one of the doorways, wearing the torn kimono which had been meticulously mended. The boy's expression was like watching the sun rise as he flung himself into Ayame's arms, knocking her backwards.

"You're okay!"

"What happened to you?"

"Doesn't matter." Kana's voice was muffled and he didn't let go of the older girl. "I missed you,, Ayame-san..."

"I'm going by Natsuko now, Kana-chan – I'm going to live in Tokyo for a while." Ayame said kindly, untangling herself from the boy to kiss his cheek gently.

"Can I come?"

*break*

Masaru stalked back and forth across the room, his bare feet whispering across the tatami as Kana watched him hopefully. Another counter-agent would be invaluable, but whether this child could be trusted was uncertain – according to Shinya and Kenji, Kuroshin Kana was a childish loudmouth.

_We could send him to train at Kaoru-san's dojo, as Ayame's little brother._ Masaru paused, staring at the little boy, wondering if the resemblance was passable. Deciding that it was, he began to see the pieces of the deception falling into place. _ Natsuko was sent to Tokyo in order to become more exposed to the western society that is more prominent in the new capital. Kana was sent as chaperone and protection for his elder sister, and also to learn Kenjutsu from the famed Yahiko. A forged note from their father. To say that after his daughter's abduction, he is worried for her safety, and knows no safer place to send her than to the home of the _Man who caught a thousand Blades_ – can't mention Battosai, since very few people know of Kenshin or link him to his past – and hopes that they will accept his children and his gratitude. It will require a significant gift to make it believable,but other than that..._

"So, can I come, Shinomori-dono?" Masaru looked up, surprise registering on his face as he glanced around for Aoshi-sama, before he realised that the boy had been talking to him. He had always given his name as Shinomori Masaru, but no-one had ever addressed him formally as Shinomori before. It was unsettling...

"Mm. _Hai_. You'll have to pretend to be Kana Kanbayashi, and call Ayame Natsuko, or Nee-san-" Masaru was cut off as Kana gave a whoop of delight.

"Ayame-san can be my Nee-san? Really?"

"You'll also have to study kenjutsu – and seem to enjoy it."

"_Nande_?" Kana protested, his face falling. "...Fine." he huffed, before Masaru had a chance to retract his offer. "Thanks anyway." He grinned and bowed, before running off to find Ayame.

Masaru sighed and shrugged. He was getting soft. The _Oniwabanshuu _was; but he wasn't certain whether it was good or bad.

"HEY WEASEL GIRL!" Masaru looked up in surprise, hearing an unmistakeable voice shout from the front of the _Aoi-ya_.

"Shut up, Sano – and take your shoes off." Megumi chided, sounding flustered and annoyed. Masaru smiled slightly, and made his way out the window and onto the roof to observe Sano's unannounced arrival.

"_Ohayo!_" Yuki shouted, running out to hug the tall man, "Do you have any new stories, Uncle Sano? Shinko-nee is here too, and so is Shinya-nii, and Kenji-nii!"

"What? Why?" Sanosuke asked, picking Yuki up easily.

"I'm not really sure... I think _Nee-san_ ran away, and then everyone came looking for her, and then she fought Yahiko-san, and made a new friend who was a bad lady, and got kidnapped, and Kenji-nii and Shinya-nii went and rescued her, and then they beat up the baddies, and Masaru-san is back and he's going to make it all better and send the bad lady away." Yuki explained excitedly. Sano blinked for a moment, staring over the girl's head at Megumi with a bemused expression.

"I think you may be telling _me _stories tonight, Yuki-chan." He said after a pause. The girl pouted and was about to protest, when Misao arrived, snagging her out of Sanosuke's arms.

"_Ohayo_, Megumi-san. How are you – has birdhead been behaving himself?"

Megumi, still strikingly beautiful, sighed, directing a disdainful glance at Sano. "What do you think?" She asked, brushing a long strand of hair back from her cheek.

"You should be nicer to me – after all you still haven't found any of your family, and a wandering female doctor is target for all sorts of brigands. Where would you be without me?" Sano said, folding his arms as well.

"You start more fights than you 'protect' me from. And without me, that hand you are so proud of would be a lump of mush." Megumi shot back.

"I have another hand."

"Too bad you don't have another brain..."

The two descended into bickering as Misao led them to a guest room, Yuki craning over her shoulder to watch the spectacle.

Masaru smiled, and returned to the business of forging a letter of introduction for Natsuko Kanbayashi.

*Break*

I like Megumi and Sano. ;P.


	22. Chapter 22

This chapter is not an actual part of the story, more like back-story, and was written in case of a situation like this – I'm going away for a month, will have no opportunity to update, and only have two half-finished chapters in the wings. So, please accept this as a stop-gap, and a Christmas gift from me to you. Merry Christmas everyone!

-CHAPTER FILLER; (a scene from our heroes' childhood.)

"Shinya! Kenji-nii!" The two boys looked up from the pieces of string they had been watching intently, to see a little girl, short hair flying out of the lacquer comb holding it off her face as she tumbled down the grassy slope, _gata _and _obi _tangled around her as she rolled to a stop at the bottom. "What are you doing?"

"Fishing, Kenji-nii's showing me." Shinya said proudly, holding up his empty string.

"I saw Uncle Sano doing it last time he was here – I wanted to see how he got all those fish bones." Kenjis said quietly, his hakama rolled up past the knees to keep them out of the silty water, and his socks and sandles neatly placed on the bank.

"Oooh, you can catch fish with a piece of string? I wanna try."

"Can't. There's only two fishing rods." Shinya said loftily, as he waded around looking for fish, soaked to the waist.

"That's not fair Shinya, I wanna go!"

"Can't." Shinya stuck his tongue out at his sister and turned around. "Should have been there when we got ready this afternoon – instead of doing stupid girl stuff for stupid girls' day."

Shinko's face screwed up and she looked like she was about to punch her twin or cry.

"You can have my string if you want." Kenji said, wading to the bank and sitting down beside the girl, holding it out for her to take.

"Don't want no stupid string. I don't need it. I bet I can catch a fish faster with my bare hands than you can with your stupid string." She pouted at Shinya, tugging at the hem of her delicately painted kimono and trying to wriggle it away from her ankles as she prepared to wade into the river as well.'

"Hah, no way. You'll be as old as Auntie Kaoru before you catch a fish." Shinya replied.

"Shouldn't you take your kimono off?" Kenji suggested, catching Shinko's shoulder just as she was about to step into the river.

"Why?"

"...You can't chase fish in it – it's too restrictive." Kenji said after a moment. Shinko paused to think about that for a moment, her six-year-old face pensive.

"You're right. Help me untie it." Kenji smiled slightly, and began undoing the complex knots of the obi while Shinko shifted impatiently from foot to foot. "Hurry up, Kenji-nii."

"Nearly there." The heavy silk _obi _slid into the boy's hands and he laid it on the bank, before starting on the sash beneath it, as well as the one that held the under-robe closed, as Shinko got increasingly impatient.

"I wanna go fishing!"

"All done." The linen under-robe was laid on the pile with the rest of the kimono, the gata and the comb as Shinko laughed with delight and hugged the red-haired boy.

"_Domo arigato goazaimas, Kenji-nii_!"

"... Here, wear this." Kenji said after a moment, tugging his gi off and slipping it around Shinko's shoulders. It came down just past her knees, and flapped around like a sail until he tied it with his 'fishing line'.

"But now you can't go fishing!" She protested, eyes wide.

"I'll try and catch them with my hands too then." Kenji said, shrugging. Shinya, who had been sulking while Kenji paid attention to Shinko spun around when he heard that.

"What about me? ...I don't need a string either. I'll catch one with my hands first!" He scanned the river frantically. "There's one!" He leaped for the flash of silver, bellyflopping into the river with a huge splash, his hands closing around mud as he came up spluttering.

"You're all wet now!" Shinko laughed, pointing, "And your mouth is all open and round like a fish!"

"I bet you can't do better." Shinya challenged. Outraged, Shinko plunged into the river, thrashing as she tried to find a fish along the bottom.

"Here fishy fishy fishy! You'll like being caught by me much better than by stinky Shinya... fishy!"

Kenji hesitated for a moment – after all, this was hardly the way for a future kendo-master and hero to behave – before he jumped into the river too. The fishing competition devolved into a splashing competition, and then became just a very wet and muddy brawl.

"Two on one isn't fair!"

"But you're bigger than us!"

"Shinya-kun said you couldn't catch fish as well as he could, Shinko-chan."

Another splash rippled the golden water as the three children played, laughter disrupting the lazy silence of the afternoon.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 22:

"You're hair is getting longer." Kenji said conversationally, sitting down next to Shinko on the wooden walkway that surrounded the _Aoi-ya_.

"I know. It's getting in the way, but I haven't had the chance to do anything about it..." Shinko replied, blowing her fringe out of her eyes with a sigh. When she could see again, her eyes fell to Kenji's hip where the katana he had picked up from the carnage at Toranaga's house still hung. It had been an awkward pall over the three of them since – Shinya had abandoned the katana he had used as soon as they arrived at the _Aoi-ya_, and was training across the courtyard with a bokken, grimacing occasionally as a particularly strenuous technique tugged at the injury on his chest. Kenji hadn't explained why he'd kept the katana – Shinko though he might not even be certain himself, but it always made her feel uncomfortable, even though he only carried it within the _Aoi-ya_.

"Let it grow then – you can always tie it back." Kenji said, breaking the growing silence. Shinko's eyes widened in surprise – it was the first time Kenji had ever ventured a personal comment, other than how crooked her kimono was.

"Maybe..." She opened her mouth to change the subject, when she heard the rapid patter of soft, feminine footsteps on the other side of the shoji. Other than her mother, Shinko only knew one woman with the distinctive shuffling footsteps that came from always wearing a kimono and being 'proper'.

"_Ohayo _Megumi-san." She said, looking up as the paper door slid open.

"_Ohayo Gozaimasu_ Megumi-dono." Kenji echoed. "When did you get here?" The doctor stared at the two of them for a moment, noting the bandage poking out under the sleeve of Shinko's gi and Kenji's slight limp then cast her trained eyes over Shinya, picking out every action that even hinted he was being careful of a healing chest wound.

"I would need to find some way to be everywhere at once to keep up with all of you." She muttered to herself, before beckoning to the three. "Come on. I need to check that none of you are crippled."

"Is that why you came?" Shinya asked meekly, coming towards the door.

"No, we came because _someone _is a _useless freeloader_." Megumi said loudly and pointedly, looking back over her shoulder.

"Oh... how is uncle Sano?"

Shinko and Kenji followed Shinya, the girl still watching the katana on Kenji's hip. Her arm ached where that very blade had sliced along it, but she couldn't bring herself to say anything. Kenji caught the direction of her attention and shrugged, looking away.

"Why?" The question escaped, but she realised as she said it that she wasn't even asking about the weapon, but why he seemed ashamed to carry it.

"I killed someone with this sword." Kenji said, too quietly for the others to hear. "That is not something to lightly discard."

"But Masaru-"

"Masaru's act was a mercy." Shinko paused, unable to refute the statement, biting her lip as she fingered the blunted katana at her side. It was her sword, and she had chosen it, just like Kenshin had chosen his _sakabato, _Yahiko his bokken, and even Shishio his flaming blade. A sword said a lot about the person who chose to wield it, but as she looked at Kenji's dark eyes, she wondered what a sword said about the person it chose to be wielded by.

"I do not regret it." Kenji said suddenly, touching the handle. There were still faint rusty flecks on the cloth of the grip.

"Why?"

"It had to be done." Kenji said coldly. Shinko stepped away slightly, stung. Kenji had once again passed from slightly friendly to cold and incomprehensible.

"Shinko, come here." Megumi said drawing the girl away from Kenji and into a small room, her medical kit already neatly arrayed. "I want to see the cut on your thigh as well." She said, deft fingers unravelling the bandaging around her arm.

Shinko showed her, a livid red line running from the point of her hip towards the hollow of her thigh; covered by a single, translucent layer of skin – it had been deeper than the one on her arm, which had already healed to a purplish, slightly raised ridge.

"The arm probably won't scar permanently... this one? " Megumi shrugged. "Does it hurt?" She pressed her fingers gently against the centre of the dark mark on Shinko's leg. Around the injury, pain flared from the contact, but where the blade had cut was only a dull, uncomfortable pressure.

"Not really."

Megumi nodded, as if she had expected as much, but a faint frown deepened the fine lines beginning to appear on her forehead.

"At least it missed all the muscles – keep working your leg, but there will be a scar." She said, shrugging, and handing her a small jar of ointment, neatly labelled with instructions before calling Shinya in.

*break*

"Aoshi-dono?" Kenji tapped on the shoji of Aoshi's study, taking a slow deep breath as he waited for the former _Okashira _to respond.

"Mm?" Aoshi slid the door open, raising an eyebrow at Kenji.

"I came to Kyoto to learn from you, but I haven't had the opportunity to speak with you about it."

"You don't want to learn how to be _Oniwabanshu_," Aoshi stated. "_Nitto ryu _would not suit you... What do you want to learn?"

"I want to learn why to fight - how to fight for a cause that isn't too steeped in morality to do what is necessary when it is necessary, but isn't depraved cruelty."

"That is easy to learn. What is harder to learn is how to stay to that path." Aoshi glanced pointedly at the sword at Kenji's hip. "And that I can't teach you."

Kenji hesitated, tightening his lips, before nodding.

"I understand."

"Maybe you can find someone else." Aoshi said mildly, one finger idly tapping a map of Kyoto stretched out on his desk, his index resting on a stylised mountain.

"Maybe." Kenji bowed, and left the study, a small smile playing around his lips.

*break*

"Shinko-san." Shinko looked up to see Ayame standing at the door, Kana by her side – the boy seemed to have been attached to her since he arrived at the _Aoi-ya_.

"_Nani_?" Shinko asked shortly, looking up from her study of the katana she had gotten from Kaname only a few days ago. The steel was still perfect along both sides, looking as if it had never been used.

"Kano-san wants to talk to you tomorrow – he's going back to Osaka soon."

"Fine." Shinko stood up, shoving the katana into its sheath and shoving it into her shinai bag before brushing past the two and leaving the room.

She went out into the front courtyard, slipping on her shoes on before walking out the open gate. Her eyes widened in surprise as she saw a familiar shock of red hair a little way down the street.

"Kenji-san?" She ran over to the older boy, wondering what he was doing, noticing with a faint shiver that he was carrying a swathe of cloth that wrapped around something long and slender.

"Shinko-san."

"Where are you going?" _With a sword..._

Kenji didn't answer immediately, watching Shinko contemplatively – probably the same look she had given him when he offered to accompany her on her way to the _Umenonemu-ya_.

"You can come." He said eventually, slightly grudgingly.

"Okay... where are _we _going."

"Don't ask so many questions." Kenji said, tapping the back of his hand against the side of Shinko's head – an almost big-brotherly gesture that he hadn't used in years.

"Then answer them."

"... We're going for a walk."

"Where?"

"You said you would stop asking questions if I answered you." Kenji said, folding his arms.

"That was a useless answer!" Shinko protested.

"Fine; there." Kenji pointed at a mountain rising over Kyoto.

"Wh-" Shinko stopped herself, biting her lip and frowning in frustration. Kenji let a smug smile flick across his face,

"You've decided something." Shinko said eventually, smiling as well, and letting a finger brush against the cloth wrapping of the katana. Surprise darted across Kenji's face.

"How did you know?"

"Who's asking questions now?" Shinko asked with a laugh, winking. "It's obvious from your..." She waved a hand vaguely over Kenji. "Demeanour."

"I didn't know I was so easy to read."

"You're not – but I've known you since I was a baby, and I've been watching your fights. You're moving like you do when you've decided what attack you're going to use to demolish whichever helpless student of _Chichi_ and Kaoru-san you're facing. If you were easy to read – like Shinya – I would know why we're going to climb a mountain."

"Shinya-kun would have told you."

"Precisely."

Kenji shook his head, sighing good-naturedly and flicking one of the unruly spikes of Shinko's hair.

*break*

Shinya looked up as he heard light footsteps outside the door, and guiltily pulled his hand away from the bandage he'd been itching. But it wasn't Megumi who came in to tell him off – it was Natsuko, her hands knotted in front of her.

"Go away." Shinya snapped, standing up and looking for another way to get out of his room.

"I want to talk to you." Natsuko said stubbornly, not moving.

"I _don't _want to talk to you." Shinya growled, reaching for his bokken. Natsuko laughed at the gesture.

"I dare you to try." She said, catching the younger teen's gaze and holding it: her dark eyes were flat, and Shinya saw for the first time the cruel, manipulative woman called Ayame in them.

"What do you want then." He asked, looking away.

"I want to thank you." She said quietly, shrugging.

"Funny way to go about it," Shinya laughed sarcastically.

"You're upset because I betrayed you."

"Most people would be; if their sister was kidnapped, by someone they thought was..." Shinya broke off, flushing angrily. "A friend."

"That's not what you thought."

"What do you _want_!" Shinya shouted, his hands jerking. "You thanked me, so will you just go away?" Natsuko shook her head and sat down gracefully at the edge of a tatami mat.

"Look. I'm sorry for the way things turned out – I'm sorry you got involved in these intrigues, although it amazes me how you can be so closely associated with the _oniwabanshuu _and stay so naive. I didn't enjoy leading you on, and I didn't ask you to save me – I'm an actress, and I've played the pathetic princess enough to know that a man who plays the prince is usually a bore or a womaniser."

"What's that meant to mean?"

"That you're a boy who can't act, and I think you should stay away from the people that can." Ayame shsrugged, and her entire bearing shifted. "You look upset Shinya-san, should I leave?"

"_Nee-san_!" Kana ran into the room, clutching a stack of books in his arms. "Did you know that Aoshi-sama has _all _of Ibsen-sensei's work? We should put on a performance of _A Doll's House_, don't you think?"

"You're going to Tokyo, Kana-chan, they don't have _Shingeki _there – you wanted to learn _Kenjutsu _instead, remember?" Natsuko said, brushing back her little brother's hair. "I think the new hairstyle suits you." The boy pouted, tugging at a ragged lock.

"What are you going to do in Tokyo, _Nee-san_ – you can't learn _Kenjutsu _with me – even though it's going to be really cool..." The last phrase was slightly brittle.

"I think I'll ask Tsubame-san if I can work at the _Akabeko _with her – unless you think I'd be a hindrance to her, Shinya-san?"

"I..."

"Oh! _Gomene_, we've been intruding, you wanted to be left alone, _ne_?" Natsuko smiled warmly, bowing slightly to Shinya before she dragged Kana out of the room, starting to berate him for rudeness as soon as the door was shut. Shinya sat, completely still as he heard the rapid whisper and soft footsteps fade. Eventually, he reached out for his bokken with a slightly shaking hand, gripping the hilt hard enough that his knuckles immediately whitened and began to ache. He sat for a moment longer, before, with a shout, he launched himself at the sturdiest thing in the room – the wooden chest which the bedding was stored in.

The sound of splintering wood cracked through the _Aoi-ya_.


End file.
